Hosts Ireland will play an ODI against the two-time world champions West Indies on 13th September at Stormont (Belfast). I am sure not many cricket fans would remember the historic clash between these two teams in the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, where Ireland snatched a 4-wicket win after successfully chasing a 305-run target (307/6 in 45.5 overs).
After that historic encounter, it will be the first international meeting between these two teams. Both teams will be looking forward to this upcoming game.
In this article, we are presenting an epic past encounter between Ireland and West Indies where an unfamiliar Ireland team stunned a strong Caribbean ODI team way back in .2004
Rare Incident: When Ireland bowled out West Indies for just 25 runs
The Purpose Of The Match:
It was two tour games for the West Indies against the hosts Ireland in 2004 in order to prepare for the upcoming England tour. Those two games were not counted as the official ODIs as Ireland had not yet earned the ODI status at that time. Those two matches were like warm-up games for the West Indies ahead of their England tour, where the Caribbean team had played a triangular ODI series along with England and New Zealand and a four-match Test series against England respectively.
The first tour game was played on 16th June 2004 at Belfast where the hosts had suffered a 96-run defeat. But we are talking about the second tour game, which was played on the very next day (17th June 2004) at the same ground.
The Squads
Despite there being an inexperienced bowling line-up, the West Indies team still could be considered as a strong team due to having big and experienced names in their batting line-up. West Indies had Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara, Ricardo Powell and Ridley Jacobs to bolster their batting line-ups. Apart from them, there were also Dwayne Bravo, Ravi Rampaul and Ian Bradshaw who were talented back then but not had much experience at the international level. Darren Sammy was also in that squad who had not made his international debut yet.
In the meantime, Ireland had no experience at the international level as it was almost two years before their first official ODI. Few of them had some experience in the first-class and List A level cricket.
For the second game, Ireland made two changes to their playing XI which had been grounded on the previous day. Adrian McCoubrey and injured Gordon Cook were replaced with John Mooney and Ryan Eagleson for the second game.
Meanwhile, the West Indies changed only their wicket-keeper for the second game as Ridley Jacobs was replaced with Carlton Baugh.
Ireland XI: Jason Molins (captain), Jeremy Bray, Andre Botha, Niall O’Brien (wicketkeeper), Peter Gillespie, Andrew White, Kyle McCallan, Eoin Morgan, Trent Johnston, John Mooney and Ryan Eagleson.
West Indies XI: Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Devon Smith, Brian Lara (captain), Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs (wicketkeeper), Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy, Ravi Rampaul, Ian Bradshaw and Jermaine Lawson.
The Match
After losing by 96 runs against almost the same West Indian squad on the previous day, the Irish team was looking forward to the second game.
(West Indies innings)
West Indies decided to bat first after winning the toss in the second game. Opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul departed very early as he was dismissed by Trent Johnston on 2 runs. Another opener Chris Gayle made 31 off 32 balls before returning to the dressing room.
Devon Smith and Ricardo Powell took the responsibility to construct the visitors’ innings. They put on a 72-run partnership for the third wicket before Powell was sent back to the pavilion on 33 runs. Then Smith (42) and Darren Sammy (2) followed in quick succession as the West Indies were 5 down for just 133 runs on the board.
Skipper Brian Lara (106), who had played a match winning century knock on the last day, decided to come out for batting later as wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs and all-rounder Dwayne Bravo were the no.6 and no.7 batsmen respectively. The left hand-right hand combination revived the West Indies innings as they put an important 131 runs partnership for the sixth wicket. Bravo played a quick fire knock while Jacobs built up steady innings.
Jacobs was dismissed on 40 off 74 deliveries while Bravo carried on his innings until the end. Lara finally came out on the crease at the no.8 position but soon he was dismissed just for 1 run off 3 deliveries.
At the end of the 50-over innings, West Indies put up 292/7 on the board while Bravo was on 100 not out in just 65 deliveries with the help of 9 fours and 3 sixes.
Among the Ireland bowlers, John Mooney was the best with the figure of 10-0-67-3. Trent Johnston and Andre Botha also took two wickets each in that innings. Inexperienced Ireland bowlers conceded total 33 extra runs, out of which 21 were wides.
(Ireland innings)
Chasing down that big total, openers Jason Molins and Jeremy Bray perfectly set up the momentum for the home team. The duo put on 111-run partnership for the opening wicket before the skipper Molins was bowled by Ravi Rampaul for 66 runs (58 balls).
At next, Bray completed his half-century and put on another 50+ runs partnership with Andre Botha for the second wicket. After a 52-run partnership for that wicket, Botha was dismissed for 15 runs. Later, opener Bray (71 runs off 87 balls), who is the set opener, was next to follow as he was stumped on a Chris Gayle delivery.
However, those dismissals did not hamper Ireland’s innings as Niall O’Brien successfully carried out the remaining chase with the help of two consecutive 50+ partnerships. At first, Niall produced a 54-run fourth wicket partnership with Peter Gillespie who was run out after scoring 25 runs. Then, Niall made an unbroken 57-run fifth wicket partnership with Andrew White which also secured their historic victory.
Niall remained unbeaten on 58 runs (off 57 balls) while White played an unbeaten 32 runs innings off just 30 deliveries as Ireland reached the target in 46.5 overs (295/4).
There was nothing much to talk about the West Indies bowling. Among the seven Caribbean bowlers, only Ravi Rampaul, Ian Bradshaw and Chris Gayle picked up one wicket each.
Brief Scores: West Indies – 292/7 in 50 overs (Dwayne Bravo 100*, Devon Smith 42, John Mooney 3/67)
Ireland – 295/4 in 46.5 overs (Jeremy Bray 71, Jason Molins 66, Chris Gayle 1/39)