Cricket:West Indies captain Chris Gayle blasted his side to a crushing nine-wicket victory over Ireland in their World Twenty20 warm-up at the Oval today.
Gayle struck seven sixes in an unbeaten 88 as the West Indians comfortably surpassed Ireland’s 130 for seven.
They got to their target with 24 balls to spare after left-hander Gayle unleashed his explosive strokeplay.
They had made 77 for one by the halfway stage of their chase, of which Gayle contributed 50, and his savage assault on off-spinner Kyle McCallan’s third over yielded two of his clearances of the ropes.
Two more came in the decisive 16th over, sent down by medium pacer John Mooney, as Ireland’s back-up bowlers struggled to make any impact.
Ireland’s single success with the ball came in the eighth over when youngster Andre Fletcher, who impressed with his sheer power, miscued an expansive stroke from McCallan’s second delivery and was caught at point.
Earlier, West Indies had restricted Ireland to just over a run a ball.
A lack of batting firepower was exposed by Gayle’s team, who have endured a torrid time against England so far this summer in both Test and one-day cricket.
William Porterfield’s men, who came into this match on a high after yesterday’s extra-over eliminator win over The Netherlands at Lord’s yesterday, failed to make the most of the powerplay period.
A position of 36 for one at the end of the fielding restrictions severely dented hopes of a challenging total on a traditionally fast-scoring ground.
Northamptonshire’s Niall O’Brien attempted to be the top-order aggressor and was just getting into his stride when he picked out midwicket with a pull off Dwayne Bravo.
Ireland struggled against the pace of Fidel Edwards, who followed up his good recent form in the second season of the Indian Premier League with figures of 3-0-13-1
For Gayle, whose innings spanned just 55 deliveries, it was a change to be reflecting on success after 2-0 defeats in both Test and one-day campaigns against England.
“It is good to get wins under our belts,” admitted Gayle. “People may say it is against a weaker opponent but that does not matter - if they (Ireland) beat us it would be a different story.
“It has been a fresh start for us, it is a different format of the game and we have had a couple of new faces in our dressing room.
“We have some advantage of being here for such a long time and we have to try to put those negatives of the England series behind us and focus on what is ahead.”
Ireland, meanwhile, suffered for their inability to post a larger target with Gayle in such mood.
“It’s not easy when you are defending 130,” said Ireland captain Porterfield. “And when a player like him (Gayle) gets going it is difficult to stop.
“It shows us what we will be up against over the next week.”