COLOMBO, SRI LANKA – A heavy downpour in the Sri Lankan capital forced an abandonment in the penultimate group game of the ICC World Twenty20. After a stop-start first innings, both in terms of batting and weather, the Irish finished on 129-6 off 19 overs. Ireland captain Will Porterfield will be left disappointed after a much more encouraging performance from his side than against Australia, where Australia won by seven wickets with almost five overs to spare. Porterfield said ‘It's disappointing to finish our campaign with a match ruined by rain …  It could've been interesting if we had managed to get a few early wickets.’

It all started disastrously for Porterfield and Ireland, with the captain dismissed from the first ball of the match, just as he had been against Australia. Fidel Edwards bowled a perfect inswinging yorker to which the skipper had no answer.

To their credit, Ireland never let the Windies attack run riot, and everyone else scored double figures. Stirling and Ed Joyce stabilized the Irish until Narine bowled Joyce for 33-2. Wicket keeper Niall O’Brien was Ireland’s top scorer with 25 from 21 balls. A late partnership between Trent Johnston and Nigel Jones helped the Irish to a reasonable total. The game was set up perfectly, but a lengthy spell of rain was enough to ensure the match was abandoned, seeing the West Indies qualify on net run-rate.

The West Indies will be satisfied with their bowling effort. They picked up wickets at regular intervals, which never allowed Ireland’s sometimes explosive batting to reach its full potential. Trinidadian seamer Ravi Rampaul bowled economically with figures of 4-0-20-1, while in Rampaul’s compatriot Sunil Narine they might have one of the key bowlers of the tournament. He got the key wicket of Joyce.

It was a shame not to see Chris Gayle, as he is the superstar batsman of the competition. After only two games, he has drifted to 10/1 (bet £10 to win £100) with Ladbrokes to be the tournament’s top batsman, which looks like great value given the amount of cricket still to be played. Along with Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Kieron Pollard have great six-hitting ability, so 4/1 with Paddy Power on the West Indies to make the final also looks good value. 26/1 with Ladbrokes on Narine to be the tournament’s top bowler must be worth a punt, given his record in similar conditions in the IPL.

The West Indies play England on Thursday in the second match of the day.

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