T20 World Cup 2022, R1, Gr B, WI v IRE: Delany's spin (3-16) & Stirling's 66* knock out West Indies
ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, Round 1, Group B, West Indies v Ireland: Brandon King's 62, Gareth Delany's 3-16 and Paul Stirling's 66 are top performances. Ireland beat West Indies by 9 wickets and move to top of the table in Group B. West Indies knocked out.
Brief Scores: West Indies 146/5 (King 62*, Delany 3/16, Singh 1/11) lost to Ireland 150/1 (Stirling 66*, Tucker 45*, Hosein 1/38) by 9 wickets
Player of the Match: Gareth Delany (3/16 in his 4 overs)
After winning one match each in their first round matches of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, two-time World T20 champions West Indies took on Ireland in a must win clash. Earlier, West Indies suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Scotland, while Ireland snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against the same opponents.
The second last match of the first round matches was played between West Indies and Ireland at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. It was a clear equation for both teams as a win in this game would have sufficed for reaching the Super 12 stage of the tournament, while the losing team will be going home early.
Spirited bounce back from Ireland
West Indies won the toss and opted to bat first. The likes of Evin Lewis, Johnson Charles and skipper Nicholas Pooran were looking set and could have done some damage to Ireland's bowling line-up. However, all of them threw away their wickets due to poor shot selection.
For the bowling team, Gareth Delany was simply excellent with the ball as he took three wickets for his side and gave away just 16 runs in his quota of four overs. In reply, Ireland made a mockery of West Indies' total with Paul Stirling remaining unbeaten for his 66 runs as the former T20 champions bowed out of the competition.
Ireland clinical in their performance against West Indies
West Indies yet again had a poor start with the bat after they lost one of their openers, Kyle Mayers, in the third over of the match. Apart from him, several West Indies batters got starts but none of them managed to convert it into a big tally. Brandon King was the only man who looked solid as he remained unbeaten on 62 at the end of the first essay. The Men in Maroon finally reached 146 runs in their allotted 20 overs.
In reply, Ireland opening batter Paul Stirling stroked a well-made fifty and ensured that his team won easily in the end. Skipper Andrew Balbirnie also played a handy knock of 37 runs in just 23 balls.
Wicketkeeper batter Lorcan Tucker played a really handy knock of unbeaten 45 runs. Both Stirling and Tucker kept the ball milking for singles and doubles and hit the odd boundary in between.
Let’s scan the top three performances from the game between West Indies and Ireland in ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.