Ireland has rung alarm bells for all teams in the Pool B after comfortably beating West Indies by four wickets. Ireland captain William Porterfield won the toss and put West Indies in to bat. The Windies soon ran into trouble losing wickets at regular interval and were left in a precarious position at 87-5. Former captain Darren Sammy and Lendl Simmons put embarked on a rescue mission putting on 154 runs for the sixth wicket.
Sammy was eventually dismissed for (89) and Simmons for (102) as West Indies posted an imposing target of 305 runs. Ireland began the chase as a team possessed and took on the West Indies attack. None of the West Indies bowlers managed to cause any trouble to the Irish batsmen. Despite a late wobble Ireland finished off the chase with (25) deliveries to spare. Paul Stirling made (92), Ed Joyce made (84) and Niall O’Biren finished with an unbeaten (79). Stirling was given the Man of the Match for his quick fired (92).
The win means that Ireland is the only team to have managed to chase a target of 300 runs plus three times at the World Cup. The other two 300 runs plus chases came at the 2011 World Cup where Ireland chased England’s 327 and Netherlands 306.
