Ireland U19 fall six runs short of Windies upset
Ireland came within six runs of creating a major upset against the West Indies in Khulna at the Under 19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh..
After his side had pegged back the West Indies to 265 for 8, Ireland's Kevin O'Brien spearheaded a gripping response that almost snatched a shock victory for the European champions.
O'Brien amassed 95 runs at a run-a-ball to put Ireland on the verge of victory but a lower order collapse that included two run outs enabled the West Indies to scrape to victory.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, West Indies began in electric fashion and had 100 runs on the board by the 15th over.
But Ireland's change bowlers Greg Thompson and Andrew Riddles checked the West Indies progress.
The spinners claimed impressive figures of 5 for 49 and 3 for 42 respectively to ensure the West Indies were restricted to an attainable target.
Ireland coach Adrian Birrell was disappointed with the defeat.
"We didn't do ourselves any favours at the start or end of the match," said Birrell. "We bowled and batted well in the middle of the match but we let them get away to too good a start."
West Indies coach Clyde Butts was surprised by Ireland's performance.
"Full credit to the Irish, we did not expect them to perform as well as that. They bowled well and had a real chance of beating us today," said Butts.
