Ireland sets up first upset in the World Cup 2015

It has taken just three days to witness the first upset of the World Cup 2015. And guess what! It’s Ireland once again. This time the victim is West Indies. 2007- It was Pakistan. 2011- It was England. Come 2015 it’s the turn of West Indies to get the taste of Irish cricket.

Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Batting first West Indies overcame the early fall of wickets to set up a total of 304-7 in 50 overs. Lendl Simmons slammed a useful hundred to take the total to a formidable one. Chris Gayle opened the batting with Dwayne Smith but the openers failed to make much of an impact. The middle order also failed miserably as Darren Bravo, the batting mainstay of the West Indian line-up got run out without facing a single delivery. Former captain Daren Sammy (89) along with Simons (102) then took the responsibility on their shoulders and finally helped West Indies maintain the trend of scoring 300 in the first innings in this world cup.

Photo: AP

However they failed to maintain the trend of winning after scoring 300 in the first innings which has been set by the other teams in the first four matches that have been played till now. The Irish chase was led by Paul Stirling who missed a world cup century by just 8 runs. Ed Joyce also failed to get to his hundred as he got out on 84. But they had made sure that the Irishmen could not lose the game. Captain William Porterfield provided a solid start with a stable innings of 23 runs that had set the stage for Stirling and Joyce to exploit the West Indian bowling attack which clearly lacked the variation that has been provided in recent times by Sunil Narine. In the end few quick wickets did fall but the Irishmen kept their calm and composure and notched up an important victory by 4 wickets in their opening game of the tournament.

Photo: Tom Shaw/Getty Images

Such a win will surely make the rest games in Pool B a bit more interesting for now on none can just take the minnows as lightly as they would have; had not West Indies lost this match and that too in such manner.

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About Argha Ghosh

An ardent follower of sports and die-hard Manchester United fan, Argha's ultimate dream is to watch a Manchester derby from the Stretford End at the Old Trafford.