West Indies vs Ireland, 2020: 2nd ODI – End of West Indies’ 6-year wait, Cottrell's finishing touch, Yet another 4-wicket haul for Joseph and more stats

West Indies clinched the 3-match ODI series against Ireland with a match still to be played following a close win on Thursday. Ireland managed to play out full 50 overs this time and posted 237/9 as Paul Stirling top-scored with a 79-ball 63. The home team was reduced to 74/4 in the chase but a quick-fire stand between Nicholas Pooran (52 off 44) and Kieron Pollard (40 off 32) brought the required rate below 4.

The rain interruption broke the moment of West Indies who lost three wickets for 8 runs from being 140/4 at the end of 26th over. Hayden Walsh Jr. put on crucial partnerships for the 8th and 9th wickets with an unbeaten 67-ball 46. Sheldon Cottrell finished off the match with a six on penultimate delivery when the home side needed two runs to win.

All the statistical highlights from West Indies’ thrilling 1-wicket win over the Irish team:

End of West Indies’ 6-year wait:

2014 – The last instance of West Indies winning an ODI series/tournament at home was way back in 2014 where they defeated Bangladesh by 3-0 margin. Since then, West Indies won only two series in ODI cricket with the 3-0 victory over Afghanistan in the recent Indian tour being the other.

Back to back wins at home for West Indies:

2016 – Last time West Indies won consecutive matches at home in ODI cricket was back between 2014 and 2016 where they won four consecutive matches. They defeated Bangladesh by 3-0 margin in the 2014 series and won the first match of the 2016 Tri-series.

3 – West Indies have won each of their last three ODIs at the Bridgetown as they defeated England by 26 runs during the last year’s ODI series. This is only the 2nd time that the West Indies won three or more ODIs in a succession in Barbados. They won each of their first four ODI matches at this venue between 1985 and 1990. Between these two streaks, the West Indies managed to win only 8 of the 26 ODIs at this venue.

Cottrell finishes off in style:

1 – Sheldon Cottrell became the first No.11 batsman in the history of ODI cricket to finish off a run-chase by hitting a six. In fact, he is also the only No.11 batsman to hit a six during a successful run-chase in an International match.

Yet another 4-fer for Joseph:

1 – Alzarri Joseph became the first player from West Indies to take three consecutive 4-fers in ODI cricket at a single ground. Alzarri is also the first player to do this feat at a venue in the Caribbean islands. Joseph took 4-fers in all the three ODIs he played at the Bridgetown in Barbados. He took 4/76 in the 2017 ODI matches against England which was also his first ODI 4-fer.

Narendra Hirwani (in 1988), Waqar Younis (in 1990) and Mitchell Starc (in 2012) picked up three successive 4-fers in ODI cricket at the Sharjah Stadium while Abdur Razzak had three 4-fers in a row in the year 2010 in Dhaka.

4 – The 4-fer in this match was Alzarri Joseph’s fourth 4-wicket haul in ODI cricket. He is only the 3rd player from West Indies with as many as four ODI 4-fers before turning 24. Ian Bishop (5) and Jerome Taylor (4) took four or more ODI 4-fers before turning 24 for the West Indies.

Kemar Roach is the only West Indies bowler to take multiple ODI 5-fers by the age of 24. Alzarri missed joining Roach in both matches after missing out on his 5th wicket in final over of his quota.

Ireland’s narrow defeat:

2 – Only the 2nd time Ireland lost an ODI match by a 1-wicket margin. The other such defeat for Ireland was came against Kenya in 2007 as the Kenyan team chased down 285 with an over to spare.

In fact, Ireland lost only three ODIs with as few as one ball to spare. Scotland (2007 Nairobi ODI; 281-run chase) and Zimbabwe (2010 Harare ODI; 201-run chase) reached the target on the last ball of the match against Ireland.