BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: Sheldon Cottrell blasted a six off the penultimate ball to give the West Indies a thrilling one-wicket victory over Ireland in the second One-day International at Kensington Oval on Thursday.
Cottrell carted Mark Adair over cover for the winning runs as the home side lived on their nerves to finish on 242-9. Victory gave the West Indies a 2-0 lead in the three-game series after winning the opener at the same ground on Tuesday by five wickets.
Despite Cottrell’s headline-stealing flourish, it was fellow tail-ender Hayden Walsh who was his team’s saviour. In just his seventh one-dayer, Walsh finished undefeated on 46. Alzarri Joseph took four wickets for the second game in a row as well as hitting a valuable 16 runs in a ninth-wicket stand with Walsh.
West Indies had been cruising at 140-3 at one stage in pursuit of a 238-run target. However, a brief rain delay played havoc with their composure and three quick wickets fell for just eight runs.
Earlier, opening batsman Paul Stirling top-scored with 63 as Ireland put up a challenging 237-9 off 50 overs on a wearing pitch. Stirling hit seven boundaries and one six as he claimed his 24th ODI half-century.
Ireland won toss
Ireland
P R Stirling b Joseph 63
G J Delany c Joseph b Cottrell 14
*A Balbirnie b Joseph 10
W T S Porterfield c Joseph b Pierre 29
K J O’Brien c Cottrell b Joseph 31
†L J Tucker c Lewis b Joseph 1
Simi Singh c Hope b Cottrell 34
M R Adair run out 13
A R McBrine lbw b Cottrell 8
B J McCarthy not out 17
W B Rankin not out 4
Extras (lb 3, w 6) 9
Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 237
Fall: 1-25, 2-51, 3-110, 4-129, 5-135, 6-154, 7-192, 8-210, 9-224
Bowling: Cottrell 10-0-51-3; Shepherd 10-1-39-0 (w 1); Pierre 10-0-50-1 (w 1); Joseph 10-1 32-4 (w 1); Pollard 2-0-15-0 (w 2); Walsh 8-0-47-0 (w 1)
West Indies
†S D Hope lbw b Singh 25
E Lewis c Rankin b McBrine 7
S O Hetmyer c Tucker b McCarthy 6
B A King c Tucker b Rankin 0
N Pooran b Singh 52
*K A Pollard c & b McCarthy 40
R Shepherd c Stirling b Singh 8
K Pierre c Stirling b McBrine 18
H R Walsh not out 46
A S Joseph c Stirling b Adair 16
S S Cottrell not out 7
Extras (lb 9, w 8) 17
Total (9 wickets; 49.5 overs) 242
Fall: 1-17, 2-24, 3-24, 4-76, 5-140, 6-142, 7-148, 8-200, 9-232
Bowling: McBrine 10-0-37-2 (w 2); McCarthy 10-1-28-2; Rankin 10-0-36-1 (w 4); Adair 7.5-0-51-1 (w 2); Singh 10-1-48-3; Delany 2-0-33-0
Result: West Indies won by 1 wicket
Man of the Match: Alzarri Joseph (West Indies)
Umpires: Joel Wilson (West Indies) and Richard Illingworth (England). TV umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (Sri Lanka). Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)