Hayden Walsh Jr. played a crucial role with the bat as he steered West Indies to a thrilling one-wicket victory over Ireland in 2nd ODI.
West Indies beat Ireland by one wicket with one ball to spare to clinch the three-match one-day international series 2-0 on Thursday.
Ireland won the toss and batted first, scoring 237-9. West Indies scored 242-9 after a wild final over when West Indies needed five runs to win.
The first two balls yielded just a single, but Ireland thought it had a runout on the third ball. After the potential dismissal was referred to the third umpire, extensive video replays were inconclusive whether bowler Mark Adair’s hand or the ball had broken the wicket first. The decision was not out.
A near runout off the next ball added to the drama, but the West Indies No. 11 Sheldon Cottrell powered the second-last ball over the boundary for six to claim victory for the home side.
Hayden Walsh Jr remained not out on 46, holding on to one end. Walsh arrived at the crease when Windies had lost seven wickets for merely 148, having lost all of their recognized batsmen.
Earlier in the day, Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie won the toss and elected to bat first for the second successive game. Opener Paul Stirling top-scored with 63 from 79 balls.
The Irish nemesis from the last match, 23-year old Alzarri Joseph, once again dominated the Irish batsmen, first removing captain Balbirnie for 10 then taking three more wickets to finish with 4-32 — exactly the same return he had in the first match when West Indies won by five wickets.
Nicholas Pooran led the home side with 52 runs.
“The wicket was a bit more even than in the first game, and we wanted to bat sensibly to get to the score," man-of- the-match Joseph said.
