West Indies vs Ireland: Need to be tighter and find ways to rotate strike, says Kieron Pollard | Cricket News – Times of India

“It was challenging, most important thing is getting the victory. When you look at it, toss is going to play a big factor in the entire series. There’s a lot of moisture, Ireland used the conditions pretty well. We need to be aware of that and we need to be tighter and find ways to rotate the strike. That partnership with Brooks was needed. We left about 20-25 runs out there. We lost six wickets for 64 runs. That’s something we need to look at,” said Pollard in a post-match presentation.
“The bowlers did pretty well. The pitch dried out and it was a better batting track in the second innings. The guys stuck in there, all the bowlers were fantastic today. I had to go to my best bowlers (at 165/1) to try and get the wicket or dry up the runs and put them on the back foot. That’s exactly what happened and they lost a couple of wickets. It was the same trend in both the innings. We started off badly, ended up in a good position, and then faltered. It was a similar trend in the way the Irish batted,” he added.
Chasing 270, Ireland batters were not able to support skipper Andrew Balbirnie and Harry Tector and only these two batters managed to stay at the crease for a long haul. Balbirnie played a knock of 71 while Tector scored 53.
Andy McBrine and George Dockrell also scored 34 and 30 respectively but this did not prove as Ireland fell 24 runs short of the target. For West Indies, Alzarri Joseph and Romario Shephard returned with three wickets each.
With this win, the hosts have gained a 1-0 lead with the second ODI set to be played on Tuesday.