The engaging action continued in the 20-20 World Cup 2022 on Friday as Ireland and West Indies went up against each other at Bellerive Oval, Hobart. West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran won the toss and decided to bat first. The match held tremendous importance for the qualification in Super 12 as the losing team would have been knocked out of the tournament.
West Indies openers Kyle Mayers and Johnson Charles walked out to the middle to give their team a blistering start. However, their hopes were shattered as Mayers departed early scoring just one off five balls. Charles looked in good touch as he played some sumptuous shots. But his stay couldn’t last long at the crease as he got dismissed with the score on 27 after scoring 24 off 18 balls.
Seeing his team in disarray, Brandon King took it upon himself to take his team out of misery. He got involved in a 44-run-stand with Evin Lewis for the third wicket. King didn’t get great support from other batters as the West Indies batting lineup faltered against relentless Irish bowling.
King finally got some support from Odean Smith who scored a quick-fire 19 off 12 balls to take West Indies to a total of 146/5 after their 20 overs. King remained unbeaten on 62 off 48 balls smashing six fours and one six in his innings. Gareth Delany was the chief destroyer of West Indies who picked up three wickets for 16 runs in four overs.
Ireland openers were seen in full swing
The Irish chase got off to a blazing start with the openers adding 73 runs for the first wicket in just 7.3 overs. West Indies got its first success in the form of captain Andrew Balbirnie who scored a magnificent 37 off 23 balls. Balbirnie’s wicket brought Lorcan Tucker to the crease who played second fiddle to a well-set Paul Stirling. The duo kept finding boundaries regularly in their free-flowing innings. They added 77 runs off 60 balls as Ireland managed to chase down the total with 15 balls to spare. Stirling remained unbeaten on 66 off 48 balls while Tucker scored 45 not out off 35 balls.
Courtesy of this crushing defeat, two-time champions West Indies got knocked out of the tournament before the Super 12 stage.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to West Indies’ defeat:
West Indies or Waste-Indies?
World-cup won't be the same without their Calypso beats.
— Aryan (@AryanMeena24) October 21, 2022
West Indies players for franchises>>>>>West Indies players for West Indies themselves ?
— Ayush Anand (@crictopher14) October 21, 2022
2012-2016: 18 matches, 11 wins, two trophies
2021-2022: 8 matches, 2 winsWest Indies going down down and down. A sad decline of once T20 dominators. Ireland beating WI isn't a upset. #WIvsIRE #WIvIRE
— Rohit.Bishnoi (@The_kafir_boy_2) October 21, 2022
Brilliant ireland
Fantastic victory ??
Paul sterling you champ ??Windies end of an era
West Indies is finishedWhat a tremendous splendid era
20 ??? ?????? ???
4 world titles
Legendry players
But this new generation woh legacy ??? ??? ?? ???— ??? ?????? ( ???? ??) ??? (@Aman_SRT_24) October 21, 2022
What an irony for west indies the format they were good at got bodied by associate team
— Prasun jha (@Prasunj52754874) October 21, 2022
Two-time World Champions, West Indies are out of #T20WorldCup2022 in the first round. #westindies pic.twitter.com/oKEKKUMYky
— Hanzalah.10 (@hanzalahsays) October 21, 2022
Time to give another shock treatment for West Indies players by banning them in leagues around the the World . Such a burdern to cricket these days. Instead give chance to Associate Nation Players. #IREvsWI #WestIndies #Ireland #T20WorldCup @IPL
— Tweprilayankar #SaveRhino (@tweprilayankar) October 21, 2022
West Indies arrived start of October for early conditioning to Australia. Their issues run deeper than that. Across five games, including the two T20Is vs Australia, they played out 250 dot balls. 250! 142 of those came during this preliminary round.
— KASHISH (@crickashish217) October 21, 2022
Greedy West Indies players deserves this..leagues over nation has always been their priority…laanat hai bc..learn from Zimbabwe team khaane ke waande hai unke
— Diveshrewatkar (@Diveshrewatkar2) October 21, 2022
Hetmyer is waiting for you at West Indies Airport ?
— Abdullah Su?tan ?? (@ImAbdullaha56) October 21, 2022
It's the bitter truth but
Players playing for money instead of playing for your country ruined West Indies cricket in the past 6 years.
Once a great T20 team now hits rock bottom.?#IREvsWI #T20WorldCup @windiescricket— Kinura Dias (@KinuraDias) October 21, 2022
