Cricket World Cup: Ireland are beaten by West Indies

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Group B, Mohali:
West Indies 275 (50 overs) beat Ireland 231 (49 overs) by 44 runs
Match scorecard

Highlights: West Indies big-hitting crushes Irish hopes

By Sam Sheringham

Devon Smith scored a career-best 107 and Kieron Pollard smashed 94 off 55 balls as West Indies beat Ireland by 44 runs in World Cup Group B in Mohali.

West Indies were labouring on 142-3 from 35 overs before Pollard smashed five sixes to lift them to 275 all out.

Ed Joyce and Gary Wilson kept Ireland on target for a win with a stand of 91.

But Joyce's dismissal for 84 sparked a collapse from 177-3 to 231 all out, with left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn taking four wickets.

The defeat leaves Ireland needing to beat South Africa on Tuesday and the Netherlands next Friday to stand any chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

Pollard's pyrotechnics provided a much-needed boost to the West Indies, who made a sluggish start in the absence of Chris Gayle, who was ruled out on the morning of the match with an abdominal strain.

Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul used up 24.2 overs in an 89-run opening partnership. But Kevin O'Brien struck to remove Chanderpaul and then Dwayne Bravo in the same over.

At 142-3 after 35 overs, the Windies gambled by taking their batting powerplay and the tactic paid off as five overs yielded 55 runs.

Pollard smashed O'Brien for two sixes in an over on his way to fifty from 35 balls and Smith accelerated to post his first one-day international hundred.

Three more sixes from Pollard followed before he was caught on the boundary trying to bring up his hundred in style as West Indies lost their last four wickets for eight runs.

O'Brien finished with a career-best 4-71 and John Mooney removed Pollard and Andre Russell in successive balls.

Benn gave West Indies the perfect start, removing Paul Stirling via an inside edge in the second over.

Joyce batted for 106 balls and hit nine fours in his innings of 84

Ireland's captain William Porterfield and Joyce responded with some meaty shots before Wets Indies' skipper Darren Sammy reined them in with three consecutive maidens.

Porterfield was the first to succumb to frustration, attempting to drive Sammy over the top and lofting a catch straight to mid-on.

Joyce kept Ireland in the hunt with a well-paced innings, adding 44 with Niall O'Brien and 91 with Wilson, who struck six fours and a six in his 62-ball innings.

But just when another famous Irish victory looked on the cards, debutant Andre Russell fired a yorker behind Joyce's feet and took out his leg stump.

When Kevin O'Brien was brilliantly caught in the deep by Pollard for five, the onus was on Wilson to play the hero's role but he was dismissed in controversial fashion.

Given out leg-before to Sammy, Wilson sent the decision for review and looked set for a reprieve when replays showed the impact was outside the line of off-stump.

But the umpire upheld his decision after ruling that Wilson was not playing a shot, leaving the clearly unhappy batsman to trudge back to the pavilion.

With that went Ireland's last hope, although George Dockrell (19) fought hard to see the match into the 49th over before he was bowled by the outstanding Benn.