1600 060666 461 066*

(*That’s not a Barbados phone number, it’s Matt Forde’s world record shot-by-shot score against Ireland yesterday)

Forde puts Ireland to the sword

The native Americans have their traditional rain dance, when some intervention is needed in a period of drought. We Irish have our own peculiar ritual which is just as effective. Just get two middle-aged men to put on white coats, walk out to the middle of a field, and each insert three sticks into the ground. That will guarantee you rain, every time.

We’ve had an early summer in Dublin, six cracking weeks that have broken temperature and sunshine records for May.

And right on cue, with the home side poised to complete a series victory in Clontarf, down came the rain to force the abandonment of the second match of a three-match ODI series between Ireland and West Indies.

Most spectators would have been more than happy with their day out however, seeing more evidence of a revitalised Irish bowling unit before the visitors took over and delivered a glorious batting orgy with a world record to boot.

West Indies’ batsmen showed great improvement from Wednesday’s defeat, where they were dismissed for 179 and went down to a 124-run defeat.

There were just 41 balls left in the innings when they lost their sixth wicket, with the score on 246. In walked Matt Forde, who had made 38 on Wednesday but never more than a modest 23 before that.

In a quite incredible 21 minutes at the wicket he demolished the stunned bowlers, hitting eight sixes and two fours, with four balls disappearing into the leafy gardens of Dublin 3 where they probably wrecked the soon-to-be-redundant lawn sprinklers.

 The 23-year old Barbadian, playing in only his 10th ODI, reached fifty off the 16th ball he faced, joining South African AB de Villiers as equal fastest to that mark in 4,875 one-day internationals played since 1971.

After Paul Stirling won the toss and elected to bowl first, Ireland’s bowlers found the going a tougher proposition than on Wednesday. Despite Barry McCarthy (2-68) prising out Brandon King for 8 in the third over, the visiting team appeared to adopt a more determined and focused approach to their innings.

Starting solidly, the West Indian batters gradually built an imposing first innings total that featured eight straight partnerships of 20 or more. As a result, the Irish bowlers couldn’t get any momentum as the runs began to flow freely.

Keacy Carty played himself in early on (his first 50 runs came off 67 balls), before flaying the bowlers to all parts of the ground scoring 52 more off just 42 balls. Carty’s second ODI century then came to a shuddering halt minutes after bringing up three figures edging Liam McCarthy (3-66) to Lorcan Tucker for an impressive 102.

Shai Hope (49), Justin Greaves (44*) and Roston Chase (24) made further contributions, before the arrival of Forde.

An incredible 98 runs came from the last six overs, with Forde eventually out for 58 off 19 balls, as the Windies finished on 352-8 from their 50 overs.

Just as the first ball of the 48th over was bowled, the first spits of rain could be felt – these spits increased in intensity over the last two overs, and by the time the players had exited the field at the end of 50 overs, the rain was tumbling and the covers were on.

Unfortunately, there was no further break in the rain and the match was eventually abandoned at 5.20pm.

Game Three of the series takes place tomorrow at the same venue.

The match, which is a sell-out, will determine whether Ireland win the series or West Indies can share the spoils.