Ireland crush Windies in first ODI

The West Indies are now trailing Ireland in their three match One Day International (ODI) series after losing the opening game by 124 runs on Wednesday in Dublin. The Irish who were sent in to bat, rattled up 303-6 off their 50 overs.

Man of the Match Andy Balbirnie slammed 112 off 138 balls, with 4 sixes and 9 fours. He shared a 109 run stand for the first wicket with captain Paul Stirling who weighed in with 54.

Balbirnie also featured in a third wicket partnership of 98 with Harry Tector who got 56. Matthew Forde was the top West Indies bowler, taking 3-68, while Alzarri Joseph had 2-51 and Roston Chase 1-42.

The West Indies began chasing 304 in disasterous fashion, slipping to 71-6 in the 15th over. Roston Chase who topscored with 55 and Matthew Forde who made 38, brought back a bit of respectability to the score with a 7th wicket partnership of 98.

The Windies were dismissed for 179 in 34.1 overs. Barry McCarthy bagged 4-32 and George Dockrell 3-21 in doing doing most of the damage for Ireland. The second ODI will be contested on Friday, also in Dublin starting at 4:45 am Jamaica time.