In the final game of their trip to West Indies, Ireland were beaten by four wickets in the only ODI of the series. The margin of the West Indies victory suggests that it was closer than the reality.
Chasing 203 to win West Indies opening batsmen Dwayne Smith and Kieran Powell raced to a century partnership inside seventeen overs against some wayward Ireland bowling. Three quick wickets while just eight runs were added caused a brief tremor in the West Indies dressing room but a brisk 35 from captain Dwayne Bravo extinguished any real hope that Ireland could pull off their second success of the week. Although the hosts lost two more wickets before the end the game was won with over thirteen overs to spare.
William Porterfield had earlier won the toss on a Sabina Park Jamaica track that appeared to be in better shape than it was for the two T20 encounters, and decided to bat first. Niall O’Brien came into the team at the expense of Alex Cusack whose bowling in the T20 matches had won him the Man of the Series. Unfortunately the opening partnership of Porterfield and Paul Stirling yet again failed to ignite as Stirling was bowled by Holder for four when the total was only six. It continued a miserable run of form for Stirling as he only managed an aggregate of six runs in the three international matches on the tour.
Porterfield could already have been back in the pavilion by then as he was dropped at point by Dwayne Smith at point before he had got off the mark. It initially appeared as if the Ireland skipper was going to take advantage of his stroke of luck as he and Ed Joyce combined in a partnership of 48 off just 51 balls before Porterfield departed in a bizarre 12th over bowled by West Indies debutant fast bowler Miguel Cummins. The young paceman overstepped in each of the first three balls of his sixth over and two of the subsequent free hits were smashed for six by Porterfield which meant that sixteen runs had been scored of only one legitimate delivery in the over. The second ball was down the leg side and Porterfield attempting to flick it to the boundary got too thin of a contact and was caught behind for 25. Ed Joyce also reached 25 but was then deceived by a slower delivery from Dwayne Bravo and chipped a catch to mid-off. Niall O’Brien fell to the same bowler when the score was 78 one ball short of 21 overs.
His brother Kevin joined Gary Wilson and they added 45 runs before Kevin misjudged a Nikita Miller spinner and pushed back a return catch to depart for 22. When Andrew Poynter also fell to Miller for 3 off the third ball of the batting powerplay Ireland looked as if 170 was beyond them.
However Gary Wilson, who had batted so well in the second T20, found a very able and enterprising partner in Stuart Thompson and together they added 61 runs off 64 balls to give Ireland hope of setting a challenging total. Combining forceful shots with great running they showed what might have been achieved earlier in the innings. Wilson finally fell late in the innings trying to force the pace and his 62 runs represented the highest individual score for Ireland in the six match tour. Thompson was caught on the boundary for an excellent 33 although the tail failed to wag and had difficulty with the pace of Holder who finished with 3 wickets for 34 runs off his nine overs.
Early wickets for Ireland in both T20’s had been the key to stifling the West Indies batting but on this occasion the Ireland attack were unable to exercise any real control as they couldn’t find consistent line and length. When Max Sorensen’s first two balls of the innings were both smashed to the boundary by Dwayne Smith it was the portent of what was to come. He was removed from the attack after his two overs cost twenty runs and ensured that West Indies had early momentum and were ahead of the required run rate. Although Tim Murtagh and George Dockrell bowled tightly to restrict the scoring to just 23 runs in the last six overs of the powerplay both openers were well set and decided to open up with a series of fours and sixes. When Murtagh was brought back into the attack his first ball was a bouncer that went for five wides over the head of Gary Wilson who was standing up to the stumps. When Smith hit the next delivery into the car park to bring up his fifty we had the second occasion in the match when the first legitimate delivery of an over went for double figures.
Ireland's Ed Joyce ©WICB Media
The introduction into the attack of Stuart Thompson brought the breakthrough when two balls after the century partnership was brought up he had Smith caught behind for 55. His second over saw Kirk Edwards attempt a quick single to George Dockrell at mid-on but was left yards short by the direct hit. Yet another wicket fell in Thompson’s third over as he induced an edge from Darren Bravo and Wilson again took the catch. This brought brother Dwayne to the crease which resulted in what may be the first instance in an ODI of a brother replacing a brother for both teams as Kevin had replaced Niall in the Ireland innings.
Dwayne’s blitz was finally ended by a fine diving catch on the boundary by that man Thompson and although Stirling and Dockrell each got a late wicket the result was never really in doubt.
It is a measure of how far Ireland have come that there is a sense of disappointment that they only won two of the six matches on the tour. However the two wins were against the then reigning Regional Super 50 over champions Windward Islands and then the T20 against the reigning World T20 champions. The sense of disappointment among the players derives more from the failure to win the second T20 and therefor the series. The failure to win more games was the result of, with exception of the first ODI, the batting and bowling units not firing in the same game.
When the squad heads to Dubai for a training camp at the end of the week these are issues that will need to be addressed. Apart from two warm up matches in Bangladesh the crucial test comes on St. Patrick's Day when Ireland face Zimbabwe in the first round of the T20 World Cup. To reach the second round a win against the southern Africans is essential. There is no doubt that Ireland can achieve this but only if every element of the team is operating at full capacity.
Main image: Ireland's Ed Joyce leaves the field after victory ©WICB Media
