Woeful West Indies were dumped out of the T20 World Cup at the preliminary phase as inspired Ireland booked their spot in the Super 12s.
Earlier this week, we marvelled at the strength in depth at this year’s event Down Under as two-time winners West Indies and former champions Sri Lanka were both stunned by Associate Nations within the first 24 hours of action.
Phil Simmons’ side bounced back to beat Zimbabwe and set up a winner-takes-all clash with Ireland. But they faltered at the final hurdle as they were thrashed by nine wickets in Hobart by a phenomenal Irish performance.
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For as bad as the West Indies were, Ireland were awesome as they rightfully secured their spot in the groups.
A brilliant bowling display, led by Gareth Delany’s miserly 3/16, restricted Nicholas Pooran’s outfit to just 146/5 off their 20 overs. But Andy Balbirnie’s boys made light work of the run chase as they romped home with 15 balls to spare just one wicket down.
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Opener Paul Stirling was the standout as he crashed an unbeaten 66 off just 48 balls to send Ireland through in fine style. He put on a brisk 73 with skipper Balbirnie before Lorcan Tucker hit 45 not out himself.
West Indies are ranked seventh in the world in the shortest format, but are a fading force on the world stage. Years ago this would be classified as a huge scalp for Ireland, who are a Test nation in their own right now, but not anymore.
It will go down on the list of famous wins against a so-called bigger nation, but they will be hungry for more once the main event kicks off tomorrow.
The Caribbean outfit were champions in 2012 and 2016 with a host of big stars used as guns for hire in T20 franchise cricket around the world. They would head to a World Cup as one of the heavy favourites with the likes of Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell in the ranks. But the other countries have caught up and gone are the days where they are feared at a global event.
After an ignominious first-round exit, teary-eyed Pooran admitted: “We are disappointed and have disappointed our fans back home. It’s definitely hurting. I’m disappointed in myself and how it has gone but we will live to fight another day.
“We haven’t batted well enough in this tournament. This will be a learning experience for us.”
Proud Irish captain Balbirnie beamed: “This means everything to us, we were so disappointed to miss out at this stage last year. We lost our first game, but to then come back and beat the two-time champions in a must-win game, I could not be prouder.”
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe topped the group after a frantic finish in their game against Scotland.
Captain Craig Ervine led his side to a five-wicket victory as Scotland suffered heartbreak with qualification within touching distance.
The Scots’ 132/6 never seemed enough and Zimbabwe were cruising at 106/3 thanks to a 64-run stand between experienced Sikandar Raza and Ervine.
They both fell quickly though to leave them tottering at 119/5, but it proved too little too late for the Saltires as they failed to repeat last year’s heroics.
Zimbabwe are in Group 2 alongside India, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh and Netherlands, whilst Ireland lock horns with England, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in the tougher section of the draw.
England, who are unbeaten since landing in Australia, are among the favourites to land the title and captain Jos Buttler is relishing the challenge of leading his side to the title.
Ahead of tomorrow’s game against Afghanistan, the destructive opener said: “We’re in a good spot and everyone is chomping at the bit to get going now. On the eve of the tournament we’re very ready. We’ve had some really good games over the last 10 matches and played some really good cricket.”
England are without left-arm seamer Reece Topley, who was ruled out of the tournament after a frustrating ankle injury, with Chris Woakes a worry with a quad issue.
Fast bowler Tymal Mills has been added to the squad after being a travelling reserve, a role reversal from last year’s event where he missed out following a last-minute injury.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
