Cottrell six seals one-wicket win for Windies

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)