West Indies and Ireland have decided to postpone the second ODI which was scheduled to play on January 11. On Monday three new Covid cases emerged in the Ireland squad which takes the total tally to five in the visiting camp.
Cricket West Indies and Cricket Ireland released a joint statement to confirm the new developments. It also stated that both parties are exploring the options to complete the series.
West Indies took a 1-0 lead in the first match
“The second CG Insurance One-Day International scheduled for Sabina Park on Tuesday, January 11 has therefore been postponed.CWI and CI are in discussions to review the match schedule and are working to explore all possibilities for the series to be completed,” the joint media release said.
“The five members of the Ireland team who have returned positive COVID-19 results remain in isolation under the care and supervision of the medical teams,” the release added.
Notable that Ireland’s ODI series against the USA was cancelled last month due to a covid outbreak. Though there was no player from Ireland who tested positive. But it’s family and staff members who were tested positive and the players were deemed as close-contacts so eventually they called off the series.
In this series against West Indies, Ireland was scheduled to play 3 ODIs and one-off T20I at Kingston. In the first match, West Indies beat the visitors by 24 runs. West Indies posted a total of 269 with the help of a 155-run stand between Shamarh Brooks and Kieron Pollard. Brooks fell short of his maiden ODI hundred by 7 runs while skipper Kieron Pollard also played a brilliant knock of 69(66).
In response, Ireland was cruising at one moment as Andy Balbirinie and Harry Tector scored the fifties But Ireland collapsed to lose their last 9 wickets in space of 80 runs and fell short by 24 runs.
This was the 7th ODI between the two sides in West Indies, Ireland hasn’t beaten the hosts yet. However, they won two ODIs in West Indies which was way back in the 2007 ODI World Cup when they upset Pakistan in the group stage and also got the better of Bangladesh in the Super-8 stage.