Ireland advanced to the T20 World Cup by defeating two-time champions West Indies by nine wickets in Hobart.
In the winner-takes-all final of the group stage, Ireland chased down 147 with 15 balls to spare.
Paul Stirling added 73 runs for the first wicket with captain Andy Balburnie and remained not out on 66 runs.
A brilliant bowling display restricted the West Indies to 146-5, with leg-spinner Gareth Delaney taking 3-16.
How much this result can be called a shock is debatable – the West Indies are far from the force that won the title in 2012 and 2016 and lost to Scotland in their opener on Monday, while Ireland on their own But it is a test country.
But it was still another famous win at the world tournament for the Irish, who finished second in Group B and moved into Group One of the Super 12s alongside hosts Australia, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
They play England in Melbourne on Wednesday (05:00 BST), the first time the two sides have met at a global event since the Irish’s stunning upset at the 2011 50-over World Cup.
Ireland’s Remarkable Progress
Ireland’s reputation for claiming scalps at major events was fading – they have not reached the first round of a T20 World Cup since 2009 and did not qualify for the 2019 50-over tournament.
Indeed, they were on the verge of an early exit three-quarters of the way through Wednesday’s game against Scotland, only to set up this high-stakes encounter with the West Indies.
From the moment West Indies won the toss and elected to bat, Ireland were dominant.
The bowlers rarely put a foot wrong, especially the spinners who strangled the West Indies in the middle overs. Off-spinner Sami Singh took Delaney’s side with 1-11 in two overs, and all this with flawless fielding.
The West Indies gained momentum with 34 runs in the last three overs, but Stirling and Balberney got off to a flying start in the chase with some free stroke play.
At 64-0 at the end of the six-over powerplay, the game looked as good as it was done.
Although Balberney cut left-arm spinner Akil Hossain for 37, Stirling found another ally in Lorcan Tucker in an unbeaten stand of 77.
Tucker finished on 45, scoring the winning runs to the delight of some enthusiastic Irish fans at Bellerive Oval.
Sad West Indies Heading Home
It’s a terrible result for West Indies, who won’t be playing in the main stage of a T20 World Cup for the first time.
They were in poor form heading into the World Cup and were in disarray even before the tournament began as batsman Shimron Hetmyer was dropped from the squad after missing his flight to Australia.
Although long-time T20 stars like Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo have moved on, Windies can still call upon plenty of players with extensive franchise experience around the world.
They should have been favorites to advance from the group, but were instead knocked out by losses to Scotland and Ireland.
Had it not been for Brendan King’s unbeaten 62, West Indies would have been outclassed further. Odin Smith gave a late boost with 19 not out from 12 balls, yet there was a sense that Windies did not have enough runs.
So it turned out that Stirling and Balburnie bowled some erratically. When Tucker was bowled on Smith’s no-ball on 17, he put in a disappointing display and the West Indies’ last chance ended.
