WC cricket 2011 match 27: West Indies beat Ireland by 44 runs

By Team Bellevision
Bellevision Media Network

Mohali, 11 March 2011: Devon Smith scored his maiden century while Kieron Pollard smashed a whirlwind 94 as West Indies were all out for 275 against Ireland in a crucial group B match of the cricket World Cup here on Friday. Even though Smith anchored the West Indies innings with a 133-ball 107 run knock during which he struck 11 boundaries and a six, it was Pollard`s power hitting which stole the limelight after being sent into bat.

 

Pollard tore apart the Irish attack to notch up his personal best score off just 55 balls with the help of eight fours and five sixes. For Ireland, Kevin O`Brien (4/71) registered his best bowling figures but not before facing Pollard`s wrath. John Mooney (2/58) also came up with two quick wickets towards the end to help his side`s cause.

 

Smith stitched two crucial partnerships -- 89 runs for the opening wicket with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and 88 off 63 balls for fourth wicket with Pollard -- to lay the foundation for the West Indies total. Before the start of the match, the West Indies were struck with a big blow when explosive batsman Chris Gayle was ruled out of the match with an abdominal strain.

 

But Chanderpaul (35), who opened the innings in place of Gayle, and Smith ensured a steady start for the Caribbean side even though initially they found the going tough against a disciplined Irish pace attack of Boyd Rankin and Alex Cusack, scoring just 28 runs in the mandatory first powerplay.

 

 

 

Both Chanderpaul and Smith adopted a cautious approach and were content in seeing through the new ball. After the sedate start, the duo started to take ones and twos with occasional boundaries in between to notch up the 50-run stand in the 15th over. Handed a life when he was on 10 by Paul Stirling, Smith welcomed Kevin O`Brien into the attack in the 19th over with a mighty hit over long-on and then completed his half-century with an inside edge four off Stirling.

 

But just when the partnership was looking dangerous, Kevin O`Brien came up with a double blow in 24th over to drew curtains on the 89-run opening stand that came off 146 balls. The burly Irish all-rounder first had Chanderpaul caught at extra cover to captain William Porterfield and then two balls later went through the defence of Darren Bravo (0) to put brakes on the West Indies.

 

New man in Ramnaresh Sarwan showed a few sparks during his 10-run stay at the crease before departing in search of one too many big shots, caught by Mooney at mid-of off teenage left-arm spinner Geroge Dockrell. Sarwan`s dismissal saw the arrival of Pollard and together with Smith, he raised the tempo of the West Indies innings, notching up the 50-run stand for the fourth wicket in just 39 balls.

 

West Indies` decision to take the batting powerplay in the 36th over paid off as they scored as many as 55 runs without losing any wicket in the five overs.  Pollard was the more destructive among the duo as he took Kevin O`Brien for special treatment during his stay at the crease.

 

 

 

Otherwise a good fielding side, Ireland were also done in by some sloppy work at the ground as Gary Wilson spilled a skier of Pollard when he was on 19 and the tall right-hander made full use of the chance, spanking the Irish bowlers to all parts of the park to bring up his fifty in just 35 deliveries.

 

After Pollard`s arrival, Smith played the second fiddle and registered his maiden ODI century before Kevin O`Brien again came up with a twin blow. He first disturbed Smith`s timbers and then accounted for West Indies skipper Darren Sammy, holed out to Dockrell at fine leg.

 

Pollard was a little unlucky to have missed out on his maiden century as well when he lofted Mooney straight to the hands of Rankin at long-off. Although West Indies scored 78 runs in the last 10 overs, they lost seven wickets to be ultimately bundled out in the last delivery of the innings.

 

Match Summary

ICC World Cup 2011 West Indies vs Ireland, 27th Match, Group B Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Chandigarh, March 11, 2011

Match Information Umpires: Asoka De Silva (SL) & Shavir Tarapore (Ind) Third Umpire: Bruce Oxenford (Aus) Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama (SL) Toss: Ireland (Elected to field) Match Status: West Indies won by 44 runs

Batting: West Indies Innings

Batsmen West Indies (275/10 in 50 ovs) Runs Balls 4’s 6’s SR Devon Smith b K O’Brien 107 133 11 1 80.45 Shivnarine Chanderpaul c W Porterfield b K O’Brien 35 62 3 0 56.45 Darren Bravo b K O’Brien 0 3 0 0 0.00 R Sarwan c J Mooney b G Dockrell 10 19 1 0 52.63 Kieron Pollard c B Rankin b J Mooney 94 55 8 5 170.91 Darren Sammy (c) c G Dockrell b K O’Brien 4 3 1 0 133.33 Devon Thomas (wk) c N O’Brien b B Rankin 2 8 0 0 25.00 Andre Russell b J Mooney 3 7 0 0 42.86 Nikita Miller not out 5 6 0 0 83.33 Sulieman Benn run out (J Mooney/A Botha) 2 2 0 0 100.00 Kemar Roach c P Stirling b A Botha 1 2 0 0 50.00 Extras: b - 3, w - 3, nb - 0, lb - 6 12   Total:(275 for 10 in 50 overs) 275 Run Rate: 5.50

Fall Of Wickets

1/89 (Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 24.2 ov.), 2/89 (Darren Bravo, 24.5 ov.), 3/130 (R Sarwan, 31.6 ov.), 4/218 (Devon Smith, 42.3 ov.), 5/222 (Darren Sammy, 42.6 ov.), 6/228 (Devon Thomas, 44.6 ov.), 7/267 (Kieron Pollard, 48.1 ov.), 8/267 (Andre Russell, 48.2 ov.), 9/272 (Sulieman Benn, 49.2 ov.), 10/275 (Kemar Roach, 49.6 ov.)

Bowling: Ireland

Bowler O M R W Nb Wd ER Boyd Rankin 10 1 35 1 0 0 3.5 Alex Cusack 7 1 22 0 0 0 3.1 John Mooney 9 0 58 2 0 2 6.4 Andre Botha 10 0 56 1 0 0 5.6 Kevin O’Brien 9 0 71 4 0 0 7.9 Paul Stirling 2 0 9 0 0 0 4.5 George Dockrell 3 0 15 1 0 1 5.0

Batting: Ireland Innings

Batsmen Ireland (231/10 in 49 ovs) Runs Balls 4’s 6’s SR William Porterfield (c) c (sub)R Rampaul b D Sammy 11 34 2 0 32.35 Paul Stirling c D Sammy b S Benn 5 6 1 0 83.33 Ed Joyce b A Russell 84 106 9 0 79.25 Niall O’Brien (wk) b S Benn 25 31 2 0 80.65 Gary Wilson lbw b D Sammy 61 62 6 1 98.39 Kevin O’Brien c K Pollard b D Sammy 5 9 0 0 55.56 Alex Cusack st D Thomas b S Benn 2 5 0 0 40.00 John Mooney b K Roach 6 7 1 0 85.71 Andre Botha run out (D Sammy) 0 7 0 0 0.00 George Dockrell b S Benn 19 19 3 0 100.00 Boyd Rankin not out 5 9 0 0 55.56 Extras: b - 0, w - 3, nb - 1, lb - 4 8   Total:(231 for 10 in 49 overs) 231 Run Rate: 4.71

Fall Of Wickets

1/6 (Paul Stirling, 1.4 ov.), 2/42 (William Porterfield, 11.6 ov.), 3/86 (Niall O’Brien, 20.6 ov.), 4/177 (Ed Joyce, 37.3 ov.), 5/187 (Kevin O’Brien, 39.4 ov.), 6/199 (Gary Wilson, 41.4 ov.), 7/199 (Alex Cusack, 42.2 ov.), 8/201 (Andre Botha, 43.4 ov.), 9/215 (John Mooney, 45.5 ov.), 10/231 (George Dockrell, 48.6 ov.)

Bowling: West Indies

Bowler O M R W Nb Wd ER Kemar Roach 8 0 34 1 0 0 4.2 Sulieman Benn 10 0 53 4 0 2 5.3 Darren Sammy 10 3 31 3 0 0 3.1 Andre Russell 10 1 37 1 1 0 3.7 Kieron Pollard 5 0 32 0 0 1 6.4 Nikita Miller 6 0 40 0 0 0 6.7