The Men in Green showcased their wonderful fighting spirit, overcoming defeat in the opening one-dayer to clinch victory over West Indies in Jamaica on January 13. The Irish defeated the Calypso Kings by five wickets in the rescheduled fixture, which was reduced to a 36-over game by the second half due to bad weather.
After DLS adjusted their target to 168, Ireland began their chase nicely, with openers William Porterfield (26) and stand-in captain Paul Stirling (21), adding 37 runs in the first-wicket stand. Stirling looked to be the aggressor from the start and did a reasonably good job before being dismissed, and soon Porterfield also fell.
But this is when Andy McBrine and Harry Tector came to the party and stitched a fine stand of 44 runs to take Ireland close. McBrine was out after a watchful but highly important 35. But Tector, the in-form middle-order bat, continued his innings nicely and finished with an unbeaten half-century (54*) in what was quite a professional run-chase from Ireland.
The tourists did lose a few wickets towards the end, but the work done by their top four, especially Tector, proved enough to take them through to a fantastic victory as they levelled the three-match series 1-1 and also earned crucial 10 points in the ICC Super League.
For West Indies, while Akeal Hosein (2/51) bagged a couple of wickets, fellow spinner Roston Chase (1/19) kept things tight. But after a modest batting display, the Calypso Kings needed a whole lot more from their bowling unit to create a match out of it.
They were bundled out for only 229 runs after being put in to bat first upon losing the toss. At one stage, WI were reduced to 111/7, before two fine lower-order knocks from Romario Shepherd (50) and Odean Smith (46) took them past the 220-mark. First match’s hero Shamarh Brooks made a watchful 43 earlier in the innings.
McBrine was the star of the show with the ball for Ireland, taking 4 wickets for only 36 runs. The visitors also had Joshua Little (2/40) and Craig Young (3/42) chipping away at the wickets column.
Brief scores
West Indies 229/10 in 48 overs (Shepherd 50, Smith 46; McBrine 4/36) lost to Ireland 168/5 in 32.3 overs (Tector 54, McBrine 35; Hosein 2/51) by 5 wickets (DLS method)
