Ireland Crush West Indies in First ODI with Balbirnie’s Century and McCarthy’s Bowling Heroics
Ireland handed West Indies a heavy defeat in the first ODI of the series.
On a pitch where Ireland managed to post a score beyond 300, the West Indies batting lineup completely collapsed. Thanks to a brilliant century from Andrew Balbirnie and fifties from Paul Stirling and Harry Tector, followed by a superb bowling performance from Barry McCarthy, the hosts claimed a commanding win.
With a 124-run victory, Stirling’s side took a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Batting first in Dublin on Wednesday, Ireland posted 303, then bowled out the visitors for just 179.
This marks Ireland’s first-ever victory by 100+ runs against a Full Member nation. Previously, their biggest margin was a 74-run win over Bangladesh in the 2007 World Cup in Barbados.
This win also completes a hat-trick of victories over West Indies in ODIs, following their 2-1 series win in the Caribbean in 2022. Overall, this was only their fourth win in 16 encounters against the Windies, with the previous three all coming with wickets in hand.
The standout performer this time was Balbirnie, who was named Player of the Match for his composed 112 off 138 balls, including 9 fours and 4 sixes — his 9th career ODI hundred.
Opening partner Stirling contributed 54 off 64 balls, while Tector added 56 off 51 balls from number four.
With the ball, it was McCarthy who dismantled the West Indies with figures of 4 for 32. All-rounder George Dockrell chipped in with a brilliant two-over spell, taking 3 wickets.
At one stage, West Indies were staring at a humiliating defeat, slumping to 31 for 5 and then 71 for 6 in their chase. Only a fifty from new Test captain Roston Chase helped them crawl past 150.
The pitch had nothing alarming for the batters. But Ireland’s pacers extracted good swing and movement with the new ball, which shattered the top order of the Caribbean side.
The collapse began with Evin Lewis being run out by a sharp direct hit from Tector. Then Keacy Carty fell to a poor shot. In the same over, McCarthy dismissed Brandon King and Amir Jangoo. Debutant Thomas Mayes bowled a peach to clean up skipper Shai Hope.
Chase and Justin Greaves tried to steady things with a 40-run stand for the sixth wicket, but Josh Little broke that partnership by removing Greaves.
The only substantial partnership came for the seventh wicket — a stand of 88 runs off 109 balls between Chase and Matthew Forde — which only helped reduce the margin of defeat. West Indies then lost their last four wickets for just 10 runs.
Earlier, Ireland got off to a fantastic start with a 109-run opening stand between Balbirnie and Stirling after losing the toss.
Balbirnie then stitched another 98-run partnership with Tector for the third wicket. He brought up his century off 131 balls before falling to Alzarri Joseph.
In terms of centuries for Ireland in ODIs, only William Porterfield (11) and Stirling (14) have more than Balbirnie (9).
Ireland will now look to seal the series in the second ODI on Friday, at the same venue.
Match Summary
Ireland: 303/6 in 50 overs
- (Balbirnie 112, Stirling 54, Tector 56; Forde 3/68, Alzarri Joseph 2/51)
West Indies: 179 all out in 34.1 overs
- (Chase 55, Forde 38; Barry McCarthy 4/32, Dockrell 3/21)
Result: Ireland won by 124 runs
Series: Ireland lead 1–0 in the 3-match series
Player of the Match: Andrew Balbirnie
