BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Coach Floyd Reifer has praised the “all-round skills and thought processes” of the CWI President’s XI following their clinical performance against Ireland in the warm up match Saturday.
The West Indies reserves easily chased down 276 to beat the visitors by three wickets with 20 balls to spare, on a surface that presented no demons at 3W’s Oval, UWI Cave Hill Campus.
“We demonstrated very good skills and the thought processes in both innings showed that we knew what we were about, so the results was a good reward for the effort,” Reifer said afterwards.
“In the first innings, we pulled them back quite a bit. At one stage it looked like they could get 300-plus, but we executed the bowling plans better in the back half of the innings and that left us chasing 5.5 per over rather than over six runs per over.”
Opener Garety Delany top-scored with 60 while Kevin O’Brien got 43 and captain Andrew Balbirnie chipped in with 40, as left-arm spinner Yannick Ottley (3-46) and fast bowler (2-40) spearheaded the President’s XI attack.
In the second half of the match, the home side strolled to victory thanks mainly to a 61-run, fourth-wicket stand between captain Darren Bravo and all-rounder Justin Greaves, both of whom made 70.
Bravo’s effort came off 62 balls with six sixes and a four while Greaves also scored at better than a run a ball, with his knock requiring 67 balls with eight boundaries and two sixes.
“We saw some brilliant batting throughout …. excellent partnerships and very good rotation of the strike and running between the wickets,” Reifer explained.
“Bravo showed what he’s capable of with some really good shots. He timed the run chase to perfection. Greaves continues to grow and mature and this innings will do him the world of good.
“He played well on both sides of the wicket and kept the tempo going. He hit the gaps and was able to find the boundaries when the bad balls were presented.”
The match was Ireland’s final warm-up before the first One-Day International of the three-match series against West Indies bowls off at Kensington Oval tomorrow.
