Ireland added to their list of giant-killing victories with a six-wicket win over World Twenty20 champions West Indies in the first T20 international at Jamaica’s Sabina Park on Wednesday.
It was at the Kingston venue where Ireland dramatically defeated Pakistan in a St Patrick’s Day 50-over World Cup match back in 2007.
And seven years on from that success, Ireland – the leading non-Test cricket nation – upset one of the sport’s ‘big boys’ once again, with former England batsman Ed Joyce making a decisive 40 not out.
After the West Indies won the toss and batted, a good all-round Ireland effort in the field saw the hosts restricted to 116 for 8 in their 20 overs.
Tim Murtagh, Alex Cusack and Kevin O’Brien took two wickets apiece, with Cusack capturing the prize scalp of dangerman Chris Gayle for a meagre innings top score of 18.
Ireland, coached by former West Indies batsman Phil Simmons, collapsed to 8 for 2 in reply, losing both openers cheaply, before Joyce, the captain of English county side Sussex, and Andrew Poynter steadied the innings.
Joyce’s runs came off 49 balls, and it was left to Kevin O’Brien – just one of two survivors from the Ireland team that beat Pakistan at Sabina Park in 2007 -– to hit the winning runs as the Irish finished on 117 for 4 with five balls to spare.
“It was obviously brilliant,” said Joyce as Ireland took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series ahead of Friday’s second T20 at Sabina Park and a stand alone 50-over one-day game there on Sunday.
“It was a bit of a strange atmosphere but the nice thing is that we weren’t jumping around like we’d won the World Cup.
“The bowlers set it up and we are all thrilled.”
Joyce said West Indies’ abundance of power hitters and some skilled bowlers led by spinner Sunil Narine made them “scary” opponents in this format.
“They have a lot of power – Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith opening up, and Marlon Samuels. They also have the best Twenty20 bowler in the world in Narine.”
Joyce, who helped Ireland recover from 8 for 2 after both openers went cheaply, added: “They are a fairly scary team to play against but we know we’ve got a chance to beat anyone when we play well on our day.”
West Indies captain Darren Sammy said his men had been beaten by the “better team”.
“Ireland played well and deserved their victory,” the all-rounder added.
“We were a bit rusty and they came hard at us and in the end were the better team on the day.
“We can’t make any excuses ... They bowled well against us and we just didn’t handle it as we should have.”
Next month sees the West Indies defend their global title at the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh – a tournament where Ireland’s first match is a St Patrick’s Day clash against Zimbabwe on March 17.
The Year Earth Changed
Directed by:Tom Beard
Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough
Stars: 4
EMIRATES'S REVISED A350 DEPLOYMENT SCHEDULE
Edinburgh: November 4 (unchanged)
Bahrain: November 15 (from September 15); second daily service from January 1
Kuwait: November 15 (from September 16)
Mumbai: January 1 (from October 27)
Ahmedabad: January 1 (from October 27)
Colombo: January 2 (from January 1)
Muscat: March 1 (from December 1)
Lyon: March 1 (from December 1)
Bologna: March 1 (from December 1)
Source: Emirates
ASHES SCHEDULE
First Test
November 23-27 (The Gabba, Brisbane)
Second Test
December 2-6 (Adelaide Oval, Adelaide)
Third Test
December 14-18 (Waca Ground, Perth)
Fourth Test
December 26-30 (Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne)
Fifth Test
January 4-8, 2018 (Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney)
How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
A meeting of young minds
The 3,494 entries for the 2019 Sharjah Children Biennial come from:
435 – UAE
2,000 – China
808 – United Kingdom
165 – Argentina
38 – Lebanon
16 – Saudi Arabia
16 – Bangladesh
6 – Ireland
3 – Egypt
3 – France
2 – Sudan
1 – Kuwait
1 – Australia
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Mozn
Started: 2017
Founders: Mohammed Alhussein, Khaled Al Ghoneim, Abdullah Alsaeed and Malik Alyousef
Based: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Industry: FinTech
Funding: $10 million
Investors: Raed Ventures, Shorooq Partners, VentureSouq, Sukna Ventures and others
Dengue fever symptoms
- High fever
- Intense pain behind your eyes
- Severe headache
- Muscle and joint pains
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Swollen glands
- Rash
If symptoms occur, they usually last for two-seven days
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