Ireland stun West Indies in World Cup 2015

Nelson (New Zealand), Feb 16 (IANS) Ireland caused the first big upset of the ICC World Cup 2015 as they beat two-time champions West Indies by four wickets in a Pool A match at the Saxton Oval here Monday.

Put into bat, the West Indies scored 304 for seven, largely thanks to a sixth-wicket 154-run partnership between Lendl Simmons (102) and Darren Sammy (89). 

Scorecard - Ireland vs West Indies

Video Highlights

Chasing 305 to win, Porterfield and Stirling gave superb start to Ireland with the latter going on to make an excellent 92. Joyce (84) and Neil O'Brien (79*) played brilliant knocs to ensure a comfortable victory for their team. Ireland have now 3 successful run chases out of the 6 successful run chases of 300+ in World Cup.

Quotes

Porterfield - 'It is obviously a great feeling and we thoroughly believed we could pull it off. We knew it was a good pitch and a shorter part of the ground, it was a par score. It was a matter of batting well which we did well. There is no reason why we can't make it to the next stage. Bowlers have been our strength though they didn't do that well today. Hopefully, we can do well at Brisbane;

Holder - 'That was a tough loss. Having 300 on the board, you back yourselves to win the game. Those two (Sammy and Simmons) put on a good partnership to get us into a good score. Bowling has been an issue and we have leaked a lot of runs at the beginning. We need to be precise in our tactics and be firm in it.'

Stirling (Man of the Match) - 'It is a nice feeling to be on the winning side. Nice to start with a great win We backed ourselves to chase down the target and we did it. Was not too bothered (about the hit on the helmet) and was able to recover from the next ball itself.'

CRICKETNMORE with inputs fom agency