Windies go one up

West Indies opening batsman Evin Lewis fell to his knees in the middle of the pitch as he agonisingly watched the ball fall a few feet inside the boundary.

The West Indies were playing Ireland in the first Colonial Medical Insurance One-Day International (ODI) cricket match at Kensington Oval and Lewis was trying to reach a century as the home side were cruising to victory.

Roston Chase, who departed for 19 runs, tried to play within himself in an attempt to give Lewis all the opportunity to reach the century. However, he leaned into a delivery with perfect form and timing only to see it race all along the turf to the boundary.

After that he went defensive, but was surprised by a rising delivery which took the edge on its way to the wicketkeeper.

West Indies needed less runs to win than what Lewis needed to make his century. But the equation was easy to workout. Lewis on 93 needed seven for his century, while the West Indies only needed four for victory.

Lewis pinched two runs to give himself a chance of reaching what everyone around the ground was hoping he could do, but knew it would take a master stroke to accomplish.

Ireland’s fast bowler Barry McCarthy turned at the top of his mark and ran in under the floodlights at Kensington Oval and Lewis climbed into a delivery, which seemed to fall right into the slot.

Everyone watched it in the air and into the offside towards to the Hall and Griffith Stand. The cheers went up as the ball went up and as it came down it dropped just shy of the boundary and bounced over for four as the crowd let out a unified sigh and Lewis dropped to his knees.

He would have to settle for an unbeaten run a ball 99 runs, which included 13 fours and two sixes and a victory for his team.

The West Indies completed an emphatic five-wicket victory with 100 balls remaining as they reached the target in 33.2 overs.

There were some impressive striking from Shimron Hetmyer (8) and Nicholas Pooran (17) as the West Indies raced to the target of 181 runs to end the match more than an hour ahead of the scheduled time.

Ireland won the toss and decided to bat first, but did not have the impact they were looking for as they were bowled out for 180 runs in the 47th over.

The West Indies team deployed a back-of-the-length plan to the visitors, who from all reports during their practice sessions were expecting this attack plan from the home team. Coupled with a web which was spun by Chase, the offspinner and the legspinner Hayden Walsh Jr. stifled the Irish batting progress.

Wicketkeeper Shai Hope also enjoyed an excellent time behind the stumps with four catches and one stumping.

Leading the attack was man of the match Alzzari Joseph, who finished with four wickets for 32 runs. Many of the Irish batsmen had starts, but did not go on to take the score over 200 runs.

The two sides meet today for the second match and the West Indies will be looking to repeat their dominant performance once again before they head off to Grenada for the third and final ODI. (CG)