Hope praises Windies for fightback on Ireland tour
DUBLIN, Ireland (CMC) — West Indies white-ball captain Shai Hope has praised his troops’ performance against Ireland in the third and final One-Day International (ODI) on Sunday, which helped them level the three-match series and avoid losing valuable points.
West Indies posted their second-highest ODI total of all time, 385 for seven from their 50 overs, on their way to a dominant 197-run victory at Clontarf via the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method.
The visitors went into the match knowing that only victory would suffice, having lost the opening ODI by 124 runs while the second match ended in a no-result due to rain.
Speaking in a post-match interview, Hope said the West Indies, who are ranked ninth in the world in ODIs could ill afford to drop any points.
“It was very crucial,” he said. “We understand the importance of every, single game, especially with the point standings we knew that with a series loss we would have probably dropped seven or eight points, so it was very crucial for us to come back and level the series.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to play the second game to give ourselves a chance to win, but I’m happy to get the guys finishing the series pretty strong.”
The Windies will take on England next in a three-match ODI series beginning on Thursday at Birmingham.
Hope said he was expecting a stiff challenge from the home side, having defeated them the last time the two sides met in the Caribbean at the end of 2024.
“We played them at the end of last year and we won that series, so we know for sure that they are going to be coming at us even harder this time,” he said. “They want to defend home soil and it’s upon us to see if we can go 2-0 up on them.
“We’re looking forward to it. This was a nice run out and it was great to get a glimpse of what the conditions may be like, but again we still have to assess when we get there, play the conditions as we see it.
“We know they’re going to be a tough, tough opponent but we’re always ready to play anyone, so we’re looking forward to that series and playing some more good cricket.”
