Eliminated: West Indies have failed to reach the Super 12 stage at the T20 World Cup
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Two-time champions West Indies have made a shock early exit from the T20 World Cup following a dismal defeat by Ireland.
Nicholas Pooran’s side have missed the Super 12 stage altogether in a massive upset after a comprehensive nine-wicket loss in Hobart on Friday.
Defeat to Ireland - who do advance in style after their most emphatic T20 win over a full-member side - follows a surprise 42-run defeat by Scotland in their tournament opener on Monday, with victory over Zimbabwe on Wednesday not enough to progress.
It is a stunning decline from West Indies, who were T20 World Cup champions in 2012 and 2016 and also reached the semi-finals of the competition in both 2009 and 2014.
They won the toss on Friday at the Bellerive Oval and elected to bat first, but could only produce a modest total of 146-5 from their 20 overs with Brandon King top-scoring with 62 runs from 48 balls.
Leg-spinner Gareth Delany took three wickets for just 16 runs, with other dismissals from Simi Singh and Barry McCarthy. West Indies struggled to recover from the early losses of Kyle Mayers and Johnson Charles and saw Evin Lewis fall shortly after the drinks break.
Ireland lost just one wicket in reply as they cruised to their target with 15 deliveries to spare, finishing on 150-1 with 66 not out from opener Paul Stirling.
The chase also involved 45 from Lorcan Tucker and 37 from captain Andrew Balbirnie, who was the only Irish dismissal as he was caught by Mayers off the bowling of Akeal Hosein in the eighth over to leave Ireland 73 for one.
"It's really tough. We haven't batted well enough throughout the tournament and on a really good batting surface, 145 was always going to be a really tough challenge to ask our bowlers to defend,” said West Indies skipper Pooran.
"I want to say congratulations to Ireland, they batted and bowled fantastically today. There are positives to take, Brandon King is batting wonderfully and Alzarri Joseph always steps up for us with the ball which is nice to see. This is a learning experience for us, we are really disappointed and we know our fans will be disappointed back home.
"It's definitely hurting, I'm disappointed in myself and how it has gone but we will live to fight another day."
Ireland missed out on the Super 12s in the United Arab Emirates last year and Balbirnie was beaming with pride after such a stirring, decisive victory that followed defeat by Zimbabwe and a crucial six-wicket defeat of Scotland.
“This means everything to us,” he said. “We were so disappointed to miss out at this stage last year, so we had to do a lot of thinking and make a lot of changes back home.
“We set out some things we wanted to achieve as a team and how we wanted to play. And here, we lost our first game but to then come back and beat two-time champions in a must-win game, I could not be prouder.
“It was an emotional finish, we are absolutely delighted. A lot of things can happen in T20 cricket when it’s your day, we want to test ourselves against the best in the world and who knows where that can take us?
“Paul is one of our best ever batters. The way he played today made it a lot easier for me and then Lorcan came in and played with real freedom. It is a really proud day for Ireland.”
