Ireland caused yet another major shock when they beat the reigning T20 World champions, the West Indies, by six wickets in Sabina Park Jamaica. Following a supremely disciplined bowling performance Ireland chased down the 117 runs required for victory with five balls to spare thanks largely to a 58 run partnership between Ed Joyce and Andrew Poynter.
Crucially this victory cannot be explained away by Ireland facing an experimental West Indies team. This was their full side that will be defending their title in Bangladesh next month. All their T20 specialists such as Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Sunil Narine were in the starting eleven which contained nine of the team that beat Sri Lanka in the 2012 final.
Prior to this series West Indies commentators regarded it as a gentle warm up for the games against England that commence at the end of next week. The local broadcasters didn’t even think it worthwhile to televise the three Ireland matches which unwittingly reduced the embarrassment of their team to a live audience of the 2,000 or so spectators rather than the potential millions tuning in at home.
West Indies won the toss and decided to bat first and could never have envisaged that not one of their stellar batting outfit would make more than Chris Gayle’s 18 runs. Gayle and his opening partner Dwayne Smith had looked comfortable in taking the score to 31 into the fifth over with Smith twice hitting the spin of Paul Stirling for six. Smith was the first wicket to fall when he pulled Tim Murtagh into the hands of Max Sorensen at deep mid-wicket for 14. The introduction of Alex Cusack in the following over produced the wicket that Ireland coveted most when Gayle failed to clear long-on and instead found the safe hands of George Dockrell. West Indies were forced to regroup and only managed eight runs in a three over period.
At the half way mark in the innings West Indies had reached 58 for the loss of the two wickets and their supporters were anticipating a blizzard of runs in the second ten overs to take them past 150 which would have been the minimum they would have expected. However the entry into the attack of George Dockrell destroyed those expectations when he had Marlon Samuels stumped off his second ball and proceeded to reel off four successive overs for a miserly 15 runs including 15 dot balls, which given the standard of the opposition is a phenomenal achievement. The pressure exerted by Dockrell forced the batsmen to take risks against the other bowlers and led to Bravo and Phil Simmons nephew, Lendl, falling to catches on the boundary. When Murtagh clean bowled Ireland’s nemesis Andre Russell in the eighteenth over, having been hit for six of the previous ball, it dawned on the radio commentators that West Indies had a match on their hands. Kevin O’Brien took two wickets in the space of three balls in the penultimate over and in the end West Indies limped to 116 for 8 wickets in their twenty overs.
A measure of the superb control of the Ireland bowling attack is reflected in the fact that Ireland bowled 61 dot balls to, arguably, the most explosive batting unit in World T20 cricket. Apart from the standout performance of Dockrell, Alex Cusack took 2 for 17 off his four overs while Sorensen went at less than a run a ball and Murtagh and O’Brien both chipped in with two crucial wickets apiece.
Although Ireland faced a target of less than a run a ball they had never beaten a Full Member country in a T20 on their opponent’s home patch. Indeed the previous time that they had contained the West Indies to a modest total in a completed T20 international was at the 2010 World Cup finals when a George Dockrell inspired spell of 4 for 16 saw Ireland needing just 139 for victory. However Ireland was blown away for just 68 runs largely through the efforts of Bravo, Rampaul and Sammy who again now stood in their way. Ireland, while being decisive against their Associate peers, have too often failed to close the deal against Test sides and a good start to their chase seemed essential if they were not to come up short again.
Unfortunately the good start failed to materialise as both openers were back in the pavilion after just eight balls of the innings. William Porterfield hit his third ball for four but was plumb LBW next ball while Paul Stirling was caught on the boundary for a duck four deliveries later. Gary Wilson joined Ed Joyce and they took the score to 37 in the seventh over with Wilson in particular being very positive until he played a rash shot and was bowled for 18.
Andrew Poynter has had a chequered career in the Ireland team and his previous 47 caps for Ireland have been spread over almost six years. Indeed prior to this tour he hadn’t played for Ireland since August 2012. There was also a great deal of surprise that he was in this match ahead of Niall O’Brien. It is reasonable to surmise that Poynter came to the wicket for the most crucial innings of his international career. He was fortunate to have probably the coolest and classiest batsman to ever play for Ireland as his partner at the other end in Ed Joyce. Had another wicket fallen immediately Ireland’s prospect of success would have been severely diminished and Poynter’s tentative start reflected the tension of the occasion when he almost played on to his first ball. Gradually he settled and with Joyce, calmness personified, keeping the scoreboard ticking over, Ireland reduced the target to 62 off nine overs.
The next five overs won the match for Ireland as the pair counter attacked and added 40 runs in that period with Poynter smashing six boundaries off the last eighteen balls he faced and when he fell to Narine his 32 off just 30 balls had helped put his side in an unassailable position.
Kevin O’Brien joined Joyce with just 22 required off four overs and with no real alarms saw Ireland over the line with almost an over to spare. Ed Joyce was named Man of the Match for his forty not out, which although he only hit two fours, held the innings together and critically never allowed the run rate to get out of control.
So yet another major scalp for this side and they are guaranteed at least a share of the series. No doubt West Indies will be gunning for revenge in the second match on Friday but it is a challenge that Ireland will relish as they continue to prove that they can genuinely compete at this level.
Image: Ireland head coach Phil Simmons ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan
