West Indies vs Ireland, 2020: 1st ODI – Evin Lewis finishes on 99*, Joseph's 4-wicket haul, Back to back wins for WI in Barbados and more stats

West Indies continuing their good performances from the Indian tour as they took 1-0 lead in the 3-match ODI series against Ireland. The visiting team were bowled out for 180 after electing to bat first. From 51/1 in 9 overs, the Irish team were collapsed to 88/6 but recovered to finish on 180. The hosts lost wickets regularly but the target was too short to put any pressure over them. Evin Lewis finished unbeaten on 99 off 99 balls as he hit a four when he was batting on 95 with the scores level.

All the statistical highlights from West Indies’ comfortable chase over Ireland in the first ODI:

Back to back wins in Barbados for West Indies:

1997 – The last instance of West Indies winning consecutive ODIs at Bridgetown was way back in 1995-1997. They defeated England by 26 runs in the 2nd game of the 5-match series last year. West Indies won six of their first 8 ODI matches in Barbados but only eight of the next 24 matches.

Yet another loss for Ireland in West Indies:

4/4 – Ireland now has lost all the four ODI matches they played against West Indies in West Indies. In fact, the Irish team lost nine of the 12 ODIs they played in the Caribbean Islands and won only two – vs Pakistan and Bangladesh in the 2007 CWC.

Evin Lewis finishes on 99*:

15 – Evin Lewis became only the 15th player to remain unbeaten on 99 in an ODI game. He is the 4th player from West Indies to register a 99* during an ODI after Richie Richardson, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Jason Holder. Among these 15 players, only UAE’s Swapnil Patil and Lewis faced exactly 99 balls during their 99*.

A rare high score in a home chase:

2013 – Evin Lewis’ unbeaten 99 is now the highest individual score for West Indies in a successful ODI chase at home in more than six years. It is the highest since Chris Gayle’s 109 during the 2013 Tri-series game against Sri Lanka.

In fact, since 2016, Evin Lewis is only the 2nd West Indies opener to score a fifty in a successful ODI chase. Chris Gayle scored a 27-ball 77 against England during last year’s Antigua ODI.

Alzarri Joseph provides breakthroughs for the hosts:

3 – Alzarri Joseph has three 4-wicket hauls in ODI cricket at the age of 23 years and 48 days. Only Ian Bishop (5) and Jerome Taylor took more ODI 4-fers before turning 24.

Alzarri was only one wicket away from becoming the 2nd West Indies bowler to take multiple ODI 5-fers after Kemar Roach by the age of 24 during the first ODI. Joseph turned 23 during November 2019 and has enough time to go past Bishop in this list.

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