Gayle creams Irish

LONDON, England (CMC):

Explosive opener Chris Gayle single-handedly annihilated Ireland's bowling to propel West Indies to an emphatic nine-wicket win in their first official ICC World Twenty20 Championship warm-up match yesterday.

The Windies skipper smashed an unbeaten 88 from a mere 56 balls to devastate the Irish attack, as the regional side easily overhauled their target to reached 134 for one with four overs left.

Earlier, Ireland managed 130 for seven from their allotted 20 overs after they won the toss and opted to bat at the Oval.

Gangling left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn was the best bowler with two for 24 from his four overs.

The win was West Indies' third in as many matches after wins over Scotland and Ireland in unofficial warm-up games in recent days and will go a long way in boosting the side's confidence after depressing performances in the just-concluded Test and one-day international series against England.

FRENETIC STAND

West Indies will play their second and final warm-up match against England today at Lord's before opening the tournament against Australia on Saturday.

Gayle, who has had a miserable tour of England with the bat, slammed six fours and seven sixes and shared a frenetic, unbeaten second wicket stand of 79 off 52 balls with Ramnaresh Sarwan, whose 25 came from 23 balls and included three fours.

The aggressive left-hander had earlier shared a 55-run partnership off just 44 balls with rookie opener Andre Fletcher, who cracked four fours in scoring 19 from 18 balls.

Gayle gave no sign of the fireworks to come when he nudged around for six runs off the first eight balls he faced in a sedate start to the innings by his standards.

After tamely defending the first two balls of the third over sent down by fast bowler Boyd Rankin, Gayle deposited the third delivery over long on for six before swatting the final ball of the over through mid-on for four.

It signalled the start of the carnage as Gayle went on a rampage, indulging himself in the feast served up by the Irish attack.

Successive boundaries

Fletcher joined in the merriment, taking successive boundaries from fast bowler Trent Johnston's second over as West Indies raced to 28 at the end of the overs.

He seemed poised to convert his innings into a big score when he top-edged off-spinner Kyle McCallan to short third man to fall at 55 for one in the eighth over.

Unbothered by Fletcher's demise, Gayle continued his merry assault, striking successive sixes from McCallan's third over and taking another pair from medium pacer John Mooney's first over, the last over of the match, which cost 19 runs.