ICC World Cup T20 cricket..
All- ROUNDER Darren Sammy picked up the slack in the absence of his skipper Christopher Gayle, as the West Indies rebounded from their warm up loss to New Zealand with a humiliating 70 runs victory over Ireland in their opening match of the 2010 International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty20 World Cup at the Guyana National Stadium (GNS), Providence last night.
Playing in the first ever day/night T20 at the venue, the host team who were without their skipper and opening batsman Gayle, won the toss and opting to take first strike scored a challenging 138-9 with Sammy top scoring with 30 made off 17 balls with two fours and the same number of sixes.
A disciplined bowling and fielding display by the host team who did not show any signs of complacency throughout the Irish innings, dismissed their lesser known opponents for 68 from 16.4 overs, as Sammy who was in the thick of things for the Windies, took 3-8 from 3.4 overs and along with his four catches, earned himself the man of the match award.
The Windies started their innings with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (14, 2×4) and Andre Fletcher (19) and two fours by Chanderpaul off Boyd Rankin set the packed venue that let out a deafening roar when the teams came out for the start of play alive, before Chanderpaul was caught by Gary Wilson off Rankin.
Dwayne Bravo deputised for Gayle as the captain in this fixture and showed the batting ability of his skipper, with a six back over the head of Trent Johnson while Fletcher drove Kevin O’ Brien between the vacant midwicket area for four.
A six over extra cover by Bravo off Alex Cusack, brought another deafening roar from the packed venue, which went silent when the bowler came up with a tumbling catch offered off the next delivery from Bravo, West Indies 43-2 after six overs as Bravo departs for 18 (2×6).

Fletcher and Ramnaresh Sarwan (24) who struck Paul Sterling for four to third man, gifted their wickets away, caught in the deep off George Dockrell who had bowled a tight line and length in the two warm up matches that Ireland lost, Windies in further trouble at 77-4 in the 12th over.
Dinesh Ramdin (01) and Narsingh Deonarine (10) were both caught by Nial O’Brien off Rankin and Dockrell respectively, before Sammy (30, 2×4; 2×6) who was joined by Kieron Pollard (08) at the fall of Deonarine’s wicket, got back to back fours off Rankin who was also struck for four by Pollard.
Operation Recovery was on its way for the hone team following the damage done by the Irish, with Sammy hitting Johnson over long off and mid -wicket for maximums as they added 32 for the sixth wicket, before they were both dismissed by Andre Botha in the space of three balls, leaving the home team on 127-8 in the 19th over.
They managed to reach 138-9 at the end of their 20 overs, losing the wicket of Ravi Rampaul off the final delivery of the innings for 8, while Nikita Miller was unbeaten on 2 against the bowling of Dockrell who finished with 3-16 and Botha, Cusack and Rankin who took two wickets each for 7, 19 and 35 runs respectively.
Ireland must have been smiling when their skipper William Porterfield got an edge through the slip cordon off Kemar Roach for four, but a magnificent catch by Sammy at slip off the next delivery, sent the batsman back into the cool comforts of the dressing room.
Double strikes by Rampaul in his first over, rocked the Irish batting as both Sterling (01) and Nial O’ Brien who came off d mark with a four, were sent back by the Trinidadian fast bowler, leaving Ireland on 11-3 in the second over of their innings.
The heavens opened up in the third over at 1853h, with Ireland on 13-3, with their not out batsmen being Wilson and Cusack on 0 and 1 respectively, still needing a further 126 to win from 17.3 overs.
Play got underway at 1922h, Rampaul continued his wicket taking act when he induced Cusack (02) to offer Sammy his third catch of the innings and second in the slip cordon, leaving Ireland on 16-4 in the fourth over.
A four to fine leg off the pads of Kevin O’ Brien, followed by another which sped to the extra cover boundary off Rampaul gave the Irish some amount of hope, irrespective of how small it may have been, as they progressed to 31-4 after six overs.
When Kevin O’ Brien picked out Fletcher on the long on boundary off Sammy’s first delivery, half of Irelands batting line up were back in the pavilion and they had not crossed the 50 run mark, while nine of their 20 overs were bowled.
Bravo joined the wicket taking act when Sammy who the Irish found hard to keep out of the game, pouched an easy offer from Gavin Wilson (17) who had barely taken off his pads, when Johnson’s (05) off stump was rocked back by Bravo.
At 56-7 in the 13th over, it was not when, but more so what would be the margin of victory by the home team, who made it to the semifinals of the 2009 tournament despite Gayle’s 57 ball ton in the first match.
Ireland presented the answer when John Mooney (01) was lbw to Nikita Miller and when Sammy had Rankin caught behind by Ramdin for one the writing was on the wall for Ireland, who surrendered easily when Dockrell (00) was caught by Ramdin off no one else but Sammy, leaving Botha unbeaten on 04, as they were bowled out for 68 from 16.4 overs.
According to Barbados statistician Harold Eastman, Ireland’s total was the second lowest in International T20 cricket, with Kenya’s 67 made against Ireland being the first and such can only be attributed to the Windies bowlers who conceded three fours in Irelands’ innings.
Rampaul 3-17 and Bravo 2-5 was worthy support to Sammy who was later declared the man of the match, while Miller chipped in with 1-18 from his four overs.
The West Indies will oppose England in their next game on Monday from 1330h at the Providence Stadium , where a win will place them at the top of the group and also in the Super Eight phase of the competition, while Ireland will battle their neighbous England also at the Providence Stadium on Tuesday.

ST INDIES
A Fletcher c K O’Brien b Dockrell 19
S Chanderpaul c Wilson b Rankin 14
*D Bravo c & b Cusack 18
R Sarwan c Wilson b Dockrell 24
N Deonarine c wkpr N O’Brien b Dockrell 10
+D Ramdin c wkpr N O’Brien b Rankin 1
D Sammy c Porterfield b Botha 30
K Pollard c & b Botha 8
N Miller not out 2
R Rampaul c Botha b Cusack 8
Extras (lb2, w1, nb1) 4     
TOTAL (9 wkts, 20 overs) 138
Did not bat: K Roach 
Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Chanderpaul, 3 overs), 2-43 (Bravo, 5.2), 3-77 (Fletcher, 11.2), 4-77 (Sarwan, 11.4), 5-83 (Ramdin, 13), 6-93 (Deonarine, 16), 7-125 (Pollard, 18.1), 8-127 (Sammy, 18.3), 9-138 (Rampaul, 20) 
Bowling: Rankin 4-0-35-2, Johnston 4-0-36-0, K O’Brien 1-0-8-0, Cusack 3-0-19-2, Stirling 2-0-15-
0, Dockrell 4-0-16-3, Botha 2-0-7-2.
IRELAND
*W Porterfield c Sammy b Roach 4
P Stirling c Sammy b Rampaul 0
+N O’Brien c wkpr Ramdin b Rampaul 6
A Cusack c Sammy b Rampaul 2
G Wilson c Sammy b Bravo 17
T Johnston b Bravo 5
J Mooney lbw b Miller 1
A Botha not out 4
B Rankin c wkpr Ramdin b Sammy 1
G Dockrell c wkpr Ramdin b Sammy 0
Extras (lb8, w11) 19     
TOTAL (all out, 16.4 overs) 68 
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Porterfield, 0.2 overs), 2-7 (Stirling, 1.3), 3-11 (N O’Brien, 1.5), 4-16 (Cusack, 3.3), 5-39 (K O’Brien, 8.1), 6-55 (Wilson, 12.1), 7-56 (Johnston, 12.4), 8-61 (Mooney, 13.4), 9-64 (Rankin, 14.5), 10-68 (Dockrell, 16.4).
Bowling: Roach 4-0-12-1, Rampaul 3-0-17-3, Bravo 2-0-5-2, Miller 4-0-18-1, Sammy 3.4-0-8-3.
Points: West Indies 2, Ireland 0.