Andy Balbirnie scored his ninth one-day international century at Clontarf and was backed up by a fine team performance as Ireland swept to a surprisingly easy 124-run victory over the West Indies in the first of a three-match series.
Balbirnie cleared the ropes four times on his way to 112 from 138 balls, and skipper Paul Stirling and Harry Tector made half-centuries, but on the small Castle Avenue ground a total of 303-6 seemed a good 20-25 short, given the understrength home attack.
It proved more than enough, though, as the visitors’ top order loosely lost their wickets and after a worrying seventh-wicket partnership of 98 the end came quickly with the last four wickets falling in the space of 14 balls.
“Absolutely delighted with that,” Stirling said. “The three debutants have come in and not looked out of place, which is a great thing for Irish cricket to have that depth.
“‘Bal’ played a typical Balbirnie innings — he saw off the new ball and batted through, and the way Harry and Lorcan Tucker played was pretty special too.”
Balbirnie got excellent support from Stirling, who smashed two sixes and became the first Ireland player to score 10,000 across all formats as he contributed 54 to an opening partnership of 109 in 22.1 overs.
“To score 10,000 runs is an amazing achievement for Paul,” Balbirnie said. “None of us knew he was close to that achievement but he has been an incredible player for Ireland, and hopefully he can keep contributing for us.”
After Stirling had holed out to deep backward square to end their stand, Cade Carmichael, a South African-born right-hander, made an impressive — if short — start to his international career, posting 16 off 21 balls.
It was a cameo that promised much for the future not least because there was something about the way the 22-year-old walked to the wicket and went about his business that suggested he knows he belongs at this level.
Tector scored his customary ODI half-century, a stylish 56 that contained half a dozen sumptuous boundaries, and Tucker maintained the momentum with a lively 30 from only 18 balls.
The big fear was that Ireland’s inexperienced attack — missing the injured Mark Adair, Craig Young and Curtis Campher —would not be able to contain the West Indies batters but with the help of a direct hit run-out by Tector the chase collapsed to 31-5.
Barry McCarthy was the early destroyer, taking three wickets — as well as the last — for figures of 4-32, while new boys Tom Mayes and Liam McCarthy also bowled with accuracy and penetration.
Mayes let out a scream of delight as he bowled Windies skipper Shai Hope — not a bad first wicket — but the West Indies lower order showed good application and had lifted their team to 157-6 when Stirling threw the ball to part-time bowler George Dockrell.
The move looked to have back-fired as 13 runs came from the slow left-armers first five balls, but Dockrell then made his skipper look a genius, taking three wickets with his next seven balls as the visitors subsided to 179 all out.
“Historically we have been slow to get into a series with our better performances coming later on,” Balbirnie said. “But this sets up nicely for us for the next two games.”
It was hard to know whether Ireland were as good as they looked or whether the West Indies were simply woeful — probably a mix of the two and Ireland should expect a strong reaction from the wounded tourists in tomorrow’s second match.
