…as Windies take easy win
LONDON, England, CMC – Explosive opener Chris Gayle single-handedly annihilated Ireland’s bowling to propel West Indies to an emphatic nine-wicket win in their first official ICC World Twenty20 Championship warm-up match on Tuesday.
The Windies skipper smashed an unbeaten 88 from a mere 56 balls to devastate the Irish attack, as the regional side easily overhauled their target to reached 134 for one with four overs left.
Earlier, Ireland managed 130 for seven from their allotted 20 overs after they won the toss and opted to bat at the Oval.
Gangling left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn was the best bowler with two for 24 from his four overs.
The win was West Indies’ third in as many matches after wins over Scotland and Ireland in unofficial warm-up games in recent days, and will go a long way in boosting the side’s confidence after depressing performances in the just concluded Test and One-Day International series against England.
Gayle, who has had a miserable tour of England with the bat, slammed six fours and seven sixes and shared a frenetic, unbeaten second wicket stand of 79 off 52 balls with Ramnaresh Sarwan, whose 25 came from 23 balls and included three fours.
The aggressive left-hander had earlier shared a 55-run partnership off just 44 balls with rookie opener Andre Fletcher who cracked four fours in scoring 19 from 18 balls.
Gayle gave no sign of the fireworks to come when he nudged around for six runs off the first eight balls he faced, in a sedate start to the innings by his standards.
After tamely defending the first two balls of the third over sent down by fast bowler Boyd Rankin, Gayle deposited the third delivery over long on for six before swatting the final ball of the over through mid on for four.
It signalled the start of the carnage as Gayle went on a rampage, indulging himself in the feast served up by the Irish attack.
Fletcher joined in the merriment, taking successive boundaries from fast bowler Trent Johnston’s second over as West Indies raced to 28 at the end of the overs.
He seemed poised to convert his innings into a big score when he top-edged off-spinner Kyle McCallan to short third man to fall at 55 for one in the eighth over.
Unbothered by Fletcher’s demise, Gayle continued his merry assault, striking successive sixes from McCallan’s third over and taking another pair from medium pacer John Mooney’s first over, the last over of the match, which cost 19 runs.
Ireland’s innings was largely fuelled by opener Jeremy Bray’s top score of 30 from 29 balls, along with Mooney’s cameo 23 from 20 balls down the order and Niall O’Brien 22 from 21 balls.
The Irish lost William Porterfield early for five with the score on eight in the second over but Bray and O’Brien added 31 off 30 balls for the second wicket to revive the innings.
When O’Brien pulled medium pacer Dwayne Bravo to Jerome Taylor at midwicket off the last ball of the seventh over, Bray added another 30 off 26 balls with Andre Botha (12) for the third wicket, but Ireland failed to find momentum against the Windies attack.
Bray was bowled by Benn attempting to push the scoring along and Kevin O’Brien 18-ball 20 was not enough to push Ireland up to a competitive score.
West Indies will play their second and final warm-up match against England today at Lord’s before opening the tournament against Australia on Saturday.
