Bridgetown: Alzarri Joseph and Evin Lewis combined to give West Indies a strong start to the New Year as the hosts defeated Ireland by five wickets in the first ODI.
Pacer Joseph led the demolition of Ireland’s batting and opener Lewis punished their bowling at the Kensington Oval on Tuesday.
Joseph grabbed 4/32 from his allotted 10 overs to earn the Man of the Match award and send the Irish crashing to 180 all out in 46.1 overs, after they chose to bat on a hard Kensington Oval pitch.
Lewis slammed 13 fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 99 to anchor West Indies to victory with 100 balls remaining and a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, which continues on Thursday at the same venue.
The left-handed batsman ended the contest when he a lofted drive off a wide, half-volley from Barry McCarthy, looking to clear the wide long-off boundary and complete his third ODI hundred.
He sunk to his knees, however, when he watched the ball drop a few millimeters inside the boundary rope to deny him the milestone.
Lewis shared a 71-run stand for the second wicket with Brandon King to put the chase on track, after Shai Hope was caught at mid-wicket off McCarthy for six in the sixth over.
King made 20 before he was one of three wickets that fell for 32 in the space of 29 balls and the hosts stumbled to 130 for four in the 24th over.
Roston Chase came to the crease and put on 48 with Lewis to keep things on course before he was caught behind for 19, gloving a snorter from Boyd Rankin in the 33rd over, with the home team needing three to win.
Earlier, Joseph made the breakthrough for West Indies, when he struck in his first over — the seventh of Ireland’s innings — and had Paul Stirling caught at mid-wicket for 15. This sparked a purple patch for West Indies, and they sent the Irish stumbling to 88 for six in the 23rd over. The hosts met resistance, when Lorcan Tucker hit the top score of 31 and Mark Adair supported with 29 to put on 54 for the seventh wicket to add some respectability to Ireland’s total.
Sheldon Cottrell and Hayden Walsh, Jr. snared two wickets apiece in the second half of the visitors’ innings to ensure they wrote no comeback story.
The two teams will now meet at the same venue on Thursday.
Brief Scores: West Indies 184/5 (Evin Lewis 99*, Brandon King 20; Simi Singh 2/44) beat Ireland 180 all out (Lorcan Tucker 31, Mark Adair 29; Alzarri Joseph 4/32). IANS