West Indies Vs Ireland

Joseph, who has been in and out of the West Indies team with injury and because of dips in form, led the attack for a West Indies side that would end up five-wicket winners in a game Ireland never got the handle of.

Choosing to bat, Ireland were in early trouble after Joseph removed the openers, Paul Stirling (15) and Gareth Delany (19) before returning to rip the heat of the middle order with the wickets of Kyle O’Brien (4) and Lorcan Tucket (31).

The visitors to the Kensington Oval in Barbados were eventually rolled for just 180 in 46.1 overs before an unbeaten 99 from opener Evin Lewis made victory secure for the West Indies, who scored 184-5 in just 33.2 overs.

"For me, it's a really good start to the year," said Joseph after receiving his man-of-the-match award on Tuesday.

According to Joseph, the coaching of former West Indies fast bowler Winston Benajmin has been instrumental to any improvement he has shown recently.

“Winston Benjamin, whenever I have something going on, I turn to him for advice,” said Joseph.

Despite the influence of Benjamin on his fledgeling career, Joseph is also very aware that there is something else that is key to his development as a consistently good bowler.

"It's just about putting in the hard work in training and doing the yards,” he said.

After the preparation is done, the actual execution may not be that interesting, as his captain, Kieron Pollard, has consistently said.

“Success is boring.”

“I kind of had an idea of how I wanted to bowl today, and I just kept it simple and bowled to my plans," explained Joseph.

Joseph starred with the ball again but had a vital innings with the bat to help the West Indies pull off a one-wicket victory against Ireland at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Thursday.

Choosing to bat first for the second game in a row, the first was a five-wicket loss, Ireland showed they can bat in posting a total of 237-9, thanks, in large part, to Paul Stirling’s 63 at the top of the order. In reply, the West Indies barely got over the line, scoring 242-9, getting to the target with one ball to go.

When Ireland batted, Joseph played chief tormentor for the second game in a row, bagging 4-32, to leave the potential for a big innings from the visitors in tatters.

Joseph was backed up by pace teammate, Sheldon Cottrell, who ended with 3-51.

Joseph was also good with the bat, scoring an important 16 before a mistimed pull off a slower ball from Mark Adair, ended his evening.

Despite the win, Joseph sent a subtle warning to the visitors.

“The win means a lot to everyone, but it's not finished, we have one game to go," said Joseph, after he was awarded his second man-of-the-match honour in as many games.

The young paceman said he was relieved to have come away from the game with a win, but for the first time in his fledgeling career, spoke, for the first time, about his batting.

“We wanted to bat sensibly and get to the score. When I went out to bat, there were a lot of balls to get there and I was looking to play every ball on merit,” said Joseph.

While Joseph is excited about his personal performance, he is also aware that there were others who stood up to be counted.

"Relieved about the win but it's a team game, we all put in the effort,” he said.

Joseph bowled a fuller length to the Irish in this game than he did in the first where he bagged 4-34, explaining that he had read something different from this pitch.

“The wicket was a bit more even than the first game, so I assessed early and bowled to the plan.”

When Joseph spoke about the four-wicket haul he enjoyed in the first ODI against Ireland, he alluded to how much work he had put into getting back to international cricket and his captain, Kieron Pollard, confirmed as much on Thursday, saying he was happy for the young man.

“Alzarri Joseph again the pick of the bowlers getting another four-wicket haul. He continues to show again, his hard work is paying off so congratulations to him,” said Pollard.

“So sometimes you might have to make tough decisions in certain scenarios,” said Pollard after a lower-order fightback and some luck gave his team a one-wicket victory over Ireland and a series win in their Colonial Medical Insurance One-Day International series at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Thursday.

Batting first, Ireland had scored 237-9 from their 50 overs and should have had an uphill task to stave of a series defeat in the second game.

However, there was to be no joy for the West Indies’ powerful top order with only Shai Hope, 25, getting into double figures.

Evin Lewis, 7, Shimron Hetmyer, 6, and Brandon King, 0, all falling cheaply.

It took Nicholas Pooran, 52, and Pollard, 40, to stage a sort of comeback that was finished by lower-order batsmen Khary Pierre (18), Hayden Walsh Jr, 46 not out, Alzarri Joseph (16) and Sheldon Cottrell, 7 not out.

The group would score more than 90 runs among them to take the West Indies over the line in a thriller that ended with the penultimate ball of the West Indies innings inching over the ropes thanks to Cottrell’s lofted cover drive.

Pollard was not happy.

“Thank God for small mercies. It took a total team effort for us to get to 237 so, again, we take the win but again we didn’t tick many of the boxes that we spoke about,” said Pollard.

The skipper did like some things about the game though, praising Alzarri Joseph for his four-wicket haul, Cottrell for his three, and Romario Shepherd for keeping the pressure on, despite it being his debut.

Pollard was also happy with the way the team fought to stay in the game for long enough to benefit from what was a lucky final few deliveries.

“Nicholas [Pooran], he got a pretty decent delivery and you can’t fault him but there were some very soft dismissals in our top order and when you look at it you see where we talk about it and guys keep giving it away,” said Pollard.

“A lot of conversations need to take place. At the end of the day we came up with the victory but again, still not happy,” said Pollard.

“We can’t continue to just give away our hand just like that when you have form and confidence because it will come back to bite you,” said Pollard.

Most egregious of the men who gave it away at the top of the order was, once again, Shimron Hetmyer, who went for a pull shot off the bowling of Barry McCarthy having faced just six balls. There was a little extra bounce and Hetmyer, not yet sure what was happening with the pitch, could only manage to top edge the delivery for a grateful Lorcan Tucker.

According to Pollard, there can be no excuses for the top order, bearing in mind the way the lower order approached the game.

“That innings from young Walsh, new in international cricket, and the mettle that he showed in that partnership with Khary Pierre and then Alzarri Joseph, those couple of fours, these guys sticking in there and I hope each and every one of us, the guys that got out before, watch how the lower order went about it. It was a simple case of occupying the crease and playing high-percentage cricket. These are conversations we are trying to have and if the lower order can do it, then the top order has no excuses,” said the skipper.

“A lot of conversations need to take place. At the end of the day, we came up with the victory but again, still not happy.”