West Indies 146-5 (20 ovs) (B King 62no; G Delany 3-16) lost to Ireland 150-1 (17.3 ovs) (P Stirling 66no, L Tucker 45no, A Balbirnie 37) by 9 wkts
In the end it was brutal, powerful and full of flair.
Such descriptions used to belong to the great West Indies teams of all generations, both the Viv Richards-inspired sides of the 1980s and the double T20 World Cup champions of more recent times, trailblazers in cricket’s shortest format.
Instead, it was Ireland who deserved such plaudits in Hobart, peaking at the opportune moment to emphatically see off the Caribbean outfit by nine wickets. In the process, progression was ensured to the next stage of the T20 World Cup for the first time since 2009.
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Ireland did beat the West Indies 2-1 in a series last January. But that was 50-over cricket, a longer format at which this Irish side has excelled for two years now. T20 has been less of a love affair, the greater need for power in shorter contests something Ireland have taken time to adjust to.
By contrast, West Indies’ history has been littered with the greatest T20 players of this generation, names like Gayle, Bravo, Russell and Narine.
There is no doubt West Indies are a team in decline, problems between the board and their star players ensure they continually fail to select their best possible squad.
Regardless, considering where Ireland were nearly a year to the day ago – losing to Namibia in heartbreaking fashion, ending their World Cup campaign in the process – to ensure progress at a tournament that historically has not been kind to them against a country that has led the way in T20 cricket, the mood in camp has to be ecstatic.
“A lot better than it was this time 12 months ago,” acknowledged captain Andrew Balbirnie, referencing that Namibia defeat. “[It was] just an all-round complete performance, I think we set the tone with the ball, managed to restrict them to a below-average score on a really good wicket and got the start we needed to really dent the total.
“There’s a lot of emotion because we’ve had a long 12 months of trying to figure out how we want to try and play this game, it’s worked sometimes, it hasn’t worked others, but to pull out two performances like we have against Scotland and against West Indies, as a senior player and a captain I’ve proud of how everyone’s got around it.”
Complete is indeed the most apt way of describing Ireland’s showing on Friday at the Bellerive Oval. With the ball, they managed to restrict West Indies in the early going, Barry McCarthy and Simi Singh striking early.
From there, though Brandon King did score an unbeaten 62 off 48 deliveries, finding joy off the bowling of McCarthy and Curtis Campher in particular, the skipper got his bowling changes spot on, holding back his best options, Josh Little and Mark Adair, to use when needed. The result was a constant build-up of pressure, which allowed the rest of the Irish attack to thrive.
None the more so than Gareth Delany, his ability to spin the ball in both directions and make right-handed and left-handed batters alike target the biggest boundary on the pitch working in his favour as he snared three victims.
Chasing a total of 147, Ireland were objectively in the driver’s seat. But this side has fallen on the wrong side of close encounters too often this summer for the 50 or so travelling Irish support to fall into a sense of security.
What allowed them to do so was the opening partnership between Balbirnie and Ireland’s talisman, Paul Stirling. As much as the side has moved away from a dependence on the Belfast man, it nonetheless remains a truism that when Stirling is on song, Ireland succeed.
Stirling ended the affair unbeaten on 66, his ability to take down West Indies’ best bowler Alzarri Joseph a microcosm of how Ireland wanted to win, and win in aggressive fashion.
Balbirnie was an able partner, sweeping and flicking behind him on the leg-side to return a score of 37. When he departed, Lorcan Tucker, who along with the rest of the top order has been struggling for form in this competition, ended unbeaten on 45 as Ireland coasted home with 15 balls to spare.
The narrative from the camp is that a focus with results hampered the side in the past. Now, the brand of cricket is the most important consideration.
“The big thing for us is not to worry too much about the results,” explained Balbirnie. “Hopefully we can continue to back ourselves even when our backs are against the wall, we came out fighting and played a certain way and we won a game. That’s what we want this team to play, win or lose.”
“The crowd today were pretty amazing – albeit lots of our parents and wives and girlfriends were just roaring their heads off. It was a pretty special day to be an Irish cricketer and hopefully we can have many more of them over the next couple of weeks.”
Ireland’s Super 12 fixtures
Sunday, October 23rd v Sri Lanka, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 3pm local/5am Irish time
Wednesday, October 26th v England, Melbourne Cricket Ground, 3pm/5am
Friday, October 28th v Afghanistan, Melbourne Cricket Ground, 3pm/5am
Monday, October 31st v Australia, The Gabba, Brisbane, 6pm/8am
Friday, November 4th v New Zealand, Adelaide Oval, 2.30pm/4am
