West Indies vs Ireland 2nd ODI, Bridgetown: Preview, prediction, likely XIs

West Indies’ win against Ireland in the first ODI of the 3-match series, at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, was clinically one-sided thanks to some excellent fast bowling from the hosts and an Evin Lewis blitzkrieg. They will now meet for the second match, at the same venue.

Spearheaded by Alzarri Joseph (4/32), the fast bowlers wore the Irish batsmen down, forced them to make unforced errors, and reduced them to 88/6 inside 23 overs. Lorcan Tucker (31) and Mark Adair (29) put up some resistance, but 180 was all Ireland could muster.

Ireland, too, did not disappoint with ball. West Indies chased down the target in the 34th over to win by 5 wickets, but only one of their batsmen went past 20. That man – Lewis – remained stranded on 99 at exactly a run a ball, sealing the match. Had they got Lewis out early, Ireland perhaps stood with a chance despite their low score.

However, while their bowlers did a decent job (albeit going for runs when the West Indians decided to free their arms), their batting let them down. The top order, especially Gareth Delany and William Porterfield, failed to rotate the strike in the middle overs, let alone find the boundary. That needs to improve.

The West Indian fast bowlers managed to extracted bounce off a length, refusing to budge throughout the innings. However, their batsmen adopted an approach that was probably too aggressive given the match situation, something they may want to address.

All in all, West Indies will go into this match as firm favourites to win the match and the series.

Head to head

Have won 8 matches to Ireland’s 1, West Indies have clearly dominated the clashes. They also lead the T20Is 3-1.

Key players

Alzarri Joseph (West Indies): The Irish batsmen struggled against Joseph’s pace and bounce in the first ODI. With an excellent support cast, Joseph is likely to bowl with the same level of hostility in the second.

Boyd Rankin (Ireland): Of all Irish pacers, Rankin exploited the pitch the best, making excellent use of his height to get the ball to come at the batsmen’s throat. Ireland may consider bringing him on earlier.

Likely XIs

West Indies: Shai Hope (wk), Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase, Kieron Pollard (c), Keemo Paul, Alzarri Joseph, Sheldon Cottrell, Hayden Walsh Jr.

Ireland: Paul Stirling, Gareth Delany, Andy Balbirnie (c), Kevin O’Brien, William Porterfield, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Simi Singh, Mark Adair, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Boyd Rankin.

Prediction

West Indies to win and clinch the series.