Brandon King marked his return to the playing eleven with an unbeaten 62 to take the West Indies to an under-par 146/5 in 20 overs of their do-or-die Group B clash against Ireland in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup at Bellerive Oval on Friday.
For Ireland, leg-spinner Gareth Delany picked career-best figures of 3/16 and kept things tight, while off-spinner Simi Singh and pacer Barry McCarthy took a wicket apiece to give their side a good chance of qualifying for the Super 12 stage.
Pushed into bowling first, Ireland drew first blood as Barry McCarthy foxed Kyle Mayers with his length ball, the left-hander completely mistiming the ball to mid-off. Johnson Charles feasted on Curtis Campher's short balls, taking two fours and a six on three consecutive deliveries in the fourth over.
But as soon as he was starting to take off, off-spinner Simi Singh took him out in his first over, as Charles sliced a short ball straight to backward point. King, coming into the playing eleven in place of Shamrah Brooks, was off the mark on the very first ball with a drive past mid-off off Singh.
He then got going with three fours slammed on the bowling of McCarthy and an off-colour Campher. But he didn't find much support from the other end as Evin Lewis was rusty in his 18-ball stay and departed when he miscued a Delany googly to deep mid-off.
King continued to anchor the innings with back-to-back fours off McCarthy and get his sixth T20I fifty even as captain Nicholas Pooran fell while trying to clear the infield and Rovman Powell holed out to deep mid-wicket.
With King unable to get the desired acceleration, Odean Smith swung hard to hit a four and two sixes in his 19 not out off 12 balls, but was unable to push West Indies past 150-mark.
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Brief scores: West Indies 146/5 in 20 overs (Brandon King 62 not out, Johnson Charles 24; Gareth Delany 3/16, Simi Singh 1/11) vs Ireland.