HOBART, Tasmania, CMC – West Indies were unceremoniously dumped from the Twenty20 World Cup here yesterday, a crushing nine-wicket defeat to Ireland signalling yet another low for the beleaguered Caribbean side.
Entering the final must-win Group B qualifier with high hopes of reaching the Super 12s main draw, West Indies hardly troubled an audacious Irish side, gathering an inadequate 146 for five from their 20 overs and then watching as the target was overhauled with 15 balls to spare at Bellerive Oval.
West Indies were tormented by veteran opener Paul Stirling, the 32-year-old lashing an unbeaten 66 from 48 deliveries to guide Ireland into the next round along with Zimbabwe from Group B, the African nation defeating Scotland by five wickets in the other do-or-die qualifier.
The aggressive Stirling posted successive half-century stands – 73 for the first wicket with captain Andy Balbirnie who made 37 and a further 77 in an unbroken second wicket partnership with Lorcan Tucker who struck 45 not out from 35 deliveries.
The defeat meant the two-time former champions finished bottom of the tour-team group on just two points, and it comes on the heels of their disastrous performance at last year’s showpiece in United Arab Emirates when they lost four of five games to miss out on the semi-finals.
“I think the assessment is that we just didn’t turn up today. We started well with the bat, but we just didn’t continue,” said a dejected head coach Phil Simmons.
“I think when you sum it up, we were outplayed in all departments today. They bowled well. We batted well at the start but didn’t carry on, and they just batted well and batted us out of the game.”
He added: “We didn’t show the sort of intent that Ireland did, and as I said before, we were outplayed in all departments today.
“We have shown intent before but the middle phases have been our problem, and we’re just … we haven’t gotten over it yet.”
Choosing to bat first, Brandon King spearheaded his side’s efforts with an excellent unbeaten 62 off 48 deliveries – his fourth T20 half-century in his last ten matches.
Johnson Charles chipped in with 24 but no other batsman passed 20 in yet another lacklustre showing, as 25-year-old leg-spinner Gareth Delany crippled West Indies’ scoring with a Man-of-the-Match three for 16 from four superb overs.
The Caribbean side mustered only 41 runs from the opening power-play while losing two wickets – left-hander Kyle Mayers (1) tamely holing out to mid off in the third over off seamer Barry McCarthy and Charles scooping off-spinner Simi Singh to backward point in the fifth over, after punching three fours and a six.
King arrived at four to anchor the innings, the stylish right-hander stroking half-dozen fours and a six while adding 44 for the third wicket with the out-of-sorts Evin Lewis (13), 28 for the fourth wicket with captain Nicholas Pooran (13) and 34 in an unbroken sixth wicket stand with Odean Smith who crunched a four and a couple of sixes in an unbeaten 12 from 12 balls.
Even then, the tempo of the innings never really climbed. West Indies laboured on 67 for two at the half-way mark, managed only 38 from the next five overs and 41 runs from the final five overs.
Ireland cantered in reply, the first power-play yielding 64 runs and no wickets as Stirling punched half-dozen fours and two sixes in a dominant first wicket stand with Balbirnie, who counted three fours and three sixes.
There was a glimmer of hope when Balbirne cut left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein into the hands of Mayers at point in the eighth over but Tucker entered to blast two fours and two sixes to maintain Ireland’s momentum.
West Indies’ misery was summed up when Tucker top-edged a pull at speedster Smith in the 12th over and was caught and bowled off a no-ball. The 26-year-old capitalised to hit the winning runs – lofting left-arm seamer Obed McCoy to the cover boundary – to send the Caribbean side home early.
