Opener Evin Lewis missed out on a century by one run but his unbeaten half-century and pacer Alzarri Joseph’s four-wicket haul earlier was enough to take the West Indies to a five-wicket win over Ireland in the opening match of the one-day international series at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Tuesday.
With the Windies needing one run to reach 181 and himself five runs for the triple-figure milestone, Lewis lofted the second ball of medium-pacer Barry Mc Carthy’s eighth over towards the cover boundary. However, the ball dropped just inside the boundary ropes and rolled for just a boundary to leave Lewis stranded on an unbeaten 99 and short of what would have been his third ODI hundred.
The left-hander’s innings included 13 fours and two sixes off 99 balls. More importantly, he batted through the innings after being given a life by Kevin O-Brien when on 30 and gave the West Indies victory with 100 balls to spare.
The other significant batting contribution for the Windies came from Brandon King, who made 20.
Irish spinner Simi Singh was the best of his team’s bowlers with two wickets for 44 runs.
Earlier, Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie won the toss, chose to bat and his side struggled throughout with wicketkeeper Lorcan Tucker top-scoring with 31 as they were bowled out for 180.
Joseph bowled with some venom in his opening spell and removed openers Paul Stirling (15) and Gareth Delaney (19) and the visitors never recovered after falling to 51-2. He eventually finished with figures of four for 32 to earn Man-of-the-Match honours.
A 54-run sixth-wicket partnership between Tucker (31) and Mark Adair (29) eventually took them close to 200 but it was still not enough to prevent the West Indies onslaught that was to follow.
Joseph’s fellow pacer Sheldon Cottrell chipped in with two wickets for 39 runs while leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr added two for 30.
Speaking after the match, Joseph was happy with his effort.
“For me, it’s a really good start to the year. It’s just about putting in the hard work in training and doing the yards. I kind of had an idea of how I wanted to bowl today, and I just kept it simple,” he said.
The second match is carded for the same venue tomorrow.
Scorecard
Ireland inns.
P. Stirling c Pollard b Joseph 15
G. Delany c †Hope b Joseph 19
A. Balbirnie c †Hope b Chase 16
W. Porterfield c †Hope b Cottrell 15
K. O’Brien lbw b Joseph 4
L. Tucker c Walsh b Joseph 31
S. Singh c †Hope b Cottrell 5
M. Adair st †Hope b Walsh 29
A. McBrine c Paul b Walsh 4
B. McCarthy c King b Paul 13
B.Rankin not out 10
EXTRAS: (b5, lb5, nb2, w7) 19
TOTAL: 180 all out (46.1)
Wkts at: 1-34, 2-51, 3-62, 4-68, 5-80, 6-88, 7-142, 8-150, 9-150, 10-180.
BOWLING: Sheldon Cottrell 9-1-39-2, Kemo Paul 7.1-0-34-1, Alzarri Joseph 10-1-32-4, Roston Chase 10-0-35-1, Hayden Walsh 10-0-30-2
West Indies inns.
S. Hope † c Porterfield b McCarthy 13
E. Lewis not out 99
B.King c McCarthy b Singh 20
S.Hetmyer c †Tucker b Singh 8
N. Pooran c Singh b McBrine 17
R.Chase c †Tucker b Rankin 19
K.Pollard not out 0
EXTRAS: (lb4, w4) 8
TOTAL: for five wkts 184 (33.2)
Wkts at: 1-27, 2-98, 3-112, 4-130, 5-178.
BOWLING: A. McBrine 7-0-40-1, B. McCarthy 7.2-1-46-1, M.Adair 2-0-24-0, S.Singh 10-0-44-2, B.Rankin 7-1-26-1
