World Cup memory: Ireland hunt in ICC tournaments big time

However, opener Paul Stirling had other ideas. His blistering 92 helped Ireland achieve the 305-run target in just 45.5 overs

World Cup memory
Ireland continue to hunt big

After stunning Pakistan and England in the previous two editions, Ireland keen to shed the minnows tag, this time shocked two-time champions West Indies in their opening encounter of the 2015 edition. West Indies, despite languishing in eighth spot in the ODI rankings, were expected to have an easy outing against the World No. 11 Ireland. However, opener Paul Stirling had other ideas. His blistering 92 helped Ireland achieve the 305-run target in just 45.5 overs.

Ireland captain William Porterfield's decision to put West Indies into bat proved right as the Caribbean openers Chris Gayle (36 off 65 balls) and Dwayne Smith (18 off 24 balls) struggled on a lively Nelson pitch. At the halfway stage, the Windies were reduced to 93-5 with George Dockrell claiming the wickets of Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Dinesh Ramdin. Centurion Lendl Simmons (102) and Darren Sammy (89) counter-attacked the Irish bowlers to put up a 154-run stand for the sixth wicket as the Windies recovered from 87-5 to score 304-7.

Ireland came out all guns blazing and Porterfield and Stirling gave them a solid start before the former was dismissed by Gayle. While Stirling stitched a 106-run stand with Ed Joyce (84) for the second wicket, Joyce shared a 96-run partnership with Niall O'Brien (79 not out) for the third wicket to help Ireland complete the chase with four wickets and 25 balls to spare.

Figured out
MS Dhoni is 23 short of becoming the wicketkeeper with the most dismissals in World Cups. Currently, SL's Kumar Sangakkara has the honours with 54.

New Zealand players celebrate a wicket in the 2015 World Cup

Did you know?
New Zealand and India were the only teams to remain unbeaten in the group stage of the 2015 World Cup jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Player to watch 
Shimron Hetmyer

Shimron Hetmyer is expected to be West Indies' standout performer at the forthcoming World Cup. With four centuries and two half tons in just 25 ODIs, it's inevitable that the world expects the dashing left-hander to deliver at the quadrennial showpiece event. West Indies will hope that Hetmyer, who is having a rather quiet IPL for RCB at the moment, will hit form just in time for the World Cup.

Catch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!