West Indies prove too much for Ireland in final clash

One day internationals are often won when one big partnership is put on the board and that is simply what happened here. The opening stand of 100 by Dwayne Smith and Kieran Powell was key to victory for West Indies as they strolled to victory to their target of 202 with 12 overs and four wickets to spare.

That target was never going to be enough for Ireland, but they will gain a lot of confidence from making the scoreboard look a lot closer than it should have been.

For the first time in this three game affair, Porterfield decided to bat first. In recent times when Ireland have upset the odds to beat a big nation, they have generally been the team who chased a target to win the game rather than set one and like Friday, the first half of the innings was slow and was arguably where the game was won.

A steady start from the tourists would have inspired confidence in the pavilion. Especially with the captain Porterfield looking in lean nick. It didn’t last, though. In a strange over, there were two no balls which led to free hits which he whacked away for 6 on both occasions but next ball he got out and it left his side 54 for 2 which it took them a while to recover from.

It was like déjà vu as the run rate began to fall with wickets falling at regular intervals and Gary Wilson playing well to save his side from embarrassment. With two knocks of thirty in the T20 games and a further half century in this game, he further emphasised his importance as a wicketkeeping batsman as he helped his side to 202 off their 50 overs with the help of Stuart Thompson who scored 33.

Alex Cusack rightly got the plaudits for his bowling performance in the previous two games but Wilson can feel proud of his performances on this tour and has been arguably the best player in the 3 games.

The hosts came flying out of the traps though and for the first time in this three game affair their batsmen delivered. The opening stand of 100 typified the aggression of their batsman as they dispatched the ball to all parts of the ground to stay well ahead of the required run rate which was a measly 4 runs an over.

The constant changing of bowlers early on was a strange sight, with not one bowler being allowed to bowl a long spell to try and work on Powell or Smith and is maybe a factor in why they were dominated from the word go.

Three quick wickets shortly after the 100 came up did give Ireland some hope that maybe a collapse was on the cards but with Kieran Powell well set it was always a pipe dream as he and then later on Dwayne Bravo got the majority of the runs to take their side on the brink of victory.

It was left to Marlon Samuels, another player who has been an integral part of the West Indian set up for many years to finish the game with a flurry of boundaries, including a six back over Paul Sterling’s head to end the contest and leave Ireland with a sense of what might have been had they been able to chase that winning total on Friday.

They now head off to Bangladesh in search of some success in another ICC tournament and on the basis of the three games in this series, that isn’t out of the question.