Well, what a remarkable victory. Ireland bowled very well for the first 25 overs of the match, with George Dockrell and Andy McBrine befuddling West Indies with canny spin. Darren Sammy and Lendl Simmons then threatened to take the game away from Ireland with an explosive partnership, and 305 looked a formidable total.
But Ireland were in control of the chase from ball one, with Paul Stirling and Ed Joyce batting with authority and plenty of panache, and they got home with plenty to spare.
Man of the match Paul Stirling: “It’s great to get that first win, and hopefully we’ll get two out of two in a week’s time. I owed the lads about 90 runs after dropping Sammy, so it was nice to get a few. It was a good toss to win and insert West Indies, and luckily we were able to chase it down.”
Ireland captain Niall O’Brien: “Sammy and Simmons played well but we thought 300 was around a par score. There’s no reason why we can’t qualify for the knockout stages.
