West Indies stunned by Ireland even after scoring 304
Match 5: West Indies vs Ireland in Nelson
West Indies 304-7 (50 overs) Simmons 102, Dockrell 3-50; Ireland 307-6 (45.5 overs) Stirling 92, Joyce 84, Taylor 3-65
Ireland won by four wickets
West Indies were103-5 in 30 overs after a display of accurate seam bowling by Dockrell and excellent fielding trapped both big hitting Gayle and Marion Samuels, in the 8th over, but recovered through Lendl Simmons (102) and Darren Sammy who unleashed some innovative stroke power play and shared a partnership of 154 to post 304-7. But all this was in vain as Ireland produced the fifth successful World Cup chase in excess of 300 and created the first shock of the World Cup with a four-wicket triumph against West Indies in their opening Pool B match in New Zealand.
Ireland’s Will Porterfield and Paul Stirling put on 71 and Stirling (92) then shared 106 with Ed Joyce (84), then Niall O’Brien added 79 not out as Ireland won with 25 balls to spare, in their fourth World Cup win over a Test team.
The once powerful Windies, winners of the first two World Cups in the 1970s, now deteriorated to eighth in the ODI rankings, after the omission of both Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard caused some disharmony.