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Balbirnie Ton, McCarthy’s Four Take Ireland 1-0 Up Over West Indies

Aakash Saini

Ireland beat West Indies in first ODI [Source: @cricketireland/x]Ireland beat West Indies in first ODI [Source: @cricketireland/x]

Ireland devoured West Indies in the first ODI of their three-match series on Wednesday, May 21. Andy Balbirnie, captain Paul Stirling, middle-order batter Harry Tector and new ball pace operator Barry McCarthy emerged as some of the standout performers for the hosts in the series opener.

Here, we take a look at the entire highlights of the match, as it panned out at the Castle Avenue in Dublin.

Andy Balbirnie tons up for Ireland

Ireland opener Andy Balbirnie and captain Paul Stirling composed 109 runs for the first wicket in 22 overs, with the latter chipping in with 54 runs from 64 balls before falling to Roston Chase. Matthew Forde got rid of Irish number three Cade Carmichael for 16, as the hosts lost their second wicket right after crossing the 150-run mark.

Balbirnie marched on and crafted his ninth ODI century, making 112 runs in all from 138 balls to top-score in the innings. Harry Tector carted a swift 56, while wicketkeeper-batter Lorcan Tucker smeared 30 off 18 balls to push Ireland to 303-6 from 50 overs.

For the West Indies, Forde picked up two additional wickets at the death to claim figures of 3-68. Alzarri Joseph picked up the prized scalps of Balbirnie and Tector to finish with 2-51.

McCarthy decimates West Indies top-order

Irish pacer Barry McCarthy rocked West Indies top-order with the early wickets of Brandon King, Keacy Carty and Amir Jangoo as the visitors slipped to 31-5 in less than 10 overs. Evin Lewis fell to an unfortunate runout while captain Shai Hope was cleaned up by Thomas Mayes (1-23).

Justin Greaves at number six counterattacked for the West Indies by slapping 35 from just 17 balls before mistiming one towards Paul Stirling off Josh Little. Roston Chase carved 55 runs off 76 balls to record the lone half-century of the West Indies innings, sharing a 98-run stand with Matthew Forde (38 off 48) in the process for the seventh wicket.

However, George Dockrell cleaned up the West Indies tail with three quick wickets, while McCarthy returned to claim his fourth to finish with astonishing figures of 4-32.

Cleaning up West Indies for 179 in 34.1 overs, Ireland won the first ODI by 124 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.