— PHOTO: AFP

MATCH-WINNING KNOCK: Shivnarine Chanderpaul came up with a century, his first in World Cup, to help West Indies register a comfortable victory against Ireland.

KINGSTON: Opener Shivnarine Chanderpaul cracked an unbeaten 102 as the West Indies coasted to an eight-wicket victory over Ireland on Friday to end the World Cup group stage unbeaten.

The left-handed Chanderpaul blasted 10 fours and four sixes off 113 balls in his sixth one-day international century and his first in World Cups.

The host rushed to its Duckworth/ Lewis revised target of 190 for two with 59 balls to spare.

Ramnaresh Sarwan contributed 36, while Marlon Samuels struck two fours and two sixes on his way to an unbeaten 27.

Earlier, Ireland was restricted to 183 for eight off 48 overs by a disciplined West Indian bowling effort.

Opener Jeremy Bray led the scoring with a flashy 41, spiced with seven boundaries.

Fast bowler Daren Powell claimed two for 24 in a probing nine-over spell. Off-spinner Chris Gayle took two for 23, while all-rounder Dwayne Bravo grabbed two for 35.

``We don't only take the points, but we take the run-rate so it was nice to get it in 38.1 overs,'' skipper Brian Lara said. ``The guys played pretty well and Chanderpaul batted superbly.''

Tougher challenges

Lara admitted the next round brought tougher challenges especially in the home team's opening Super Eight match against defending champion Australia.

``It doesn't matter the opposition,'' Lara said. ``We know it's Australia, but we have done well against Australia in the recent past and if we play to the best of our ability, it's going to be a hell of a game.''

Ireland joined the West Indies in the Super Eight after a tie against Zimbabwe and a victory over Pakistan.

Stand-in captain Kyle McCallan said the batting had been a letdown on Friday.

``We were a little bit disappointed with how we batted in the middle overs and we were a few runs short of what we were looking for,'' he said. ``But I don't think there's any disgrace in losing to the West Indian side.''

McCallan said Ireland was eagerly looking forward to the Super Eights. ``You can only get better by playing better opposition so we're going to work very hard at our own game and let's hope we can spring a surprise or two in the next couple of weeks,'' he said.

The performance of his team in its first ever World Cup had brought the country much satisfaction, McCallan said. ``Ireland is now jumping and buzzing with cricket so as far as we're concerned, that's half our job done being at the World Cup,'' he said.

Excellent conditions

Ireland, without captain Trent Johnston because of a shoulder injury, won the toss and chose to bat in excellent conditions.

Powell landed an early strike when William Porterfield edged to Chris Gayle at first slip in the second over. Bray and Eoin Morgan rebuilt the innings in a second wicket stand of 58 off 85 balls before West Indies hit back strongly again.

Powell coaxed a top-edged hook from Morgan and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin held a catch running back 30 yards.

Niall O'Brien and Bray quickly fell to Ian Bradshaw and Jerome Taylor as Ireland slipped to 82 for four off 22 overs. O'Brien snicked a Bradshaw outswinger to Ramdin, while Bray lofted a Taylor slower ball to mid-off.

Andre Botha, one of the five left-handers in Ireland top order, joined the right-handed Kevin O'Brien and cautiously added 47 for the fifth wicket. Botha stroked one four and a six in 28 before he top-edged a pull at Gayle to provide Ramdin with another running catch.

O'Brien was another Gayle wicket when he skied to Sarwan at deep-midwicket. Light rain stalled Ireland's innings at 161 for six off 45.2 overs and caused a delay of just over an hour. McCallan contributed an unbeaten 20 off 24 balls to boost the innings on resumption after Bravo took two wickets in two balls.

No bother

The West Indies' reply was never bothered, despite losing Gayle at 24 for one. The powerful left-hander lofted a slower ball from Dave Langford-Smith to mid-on.

Chanderpaul anchored the pursuit after that, settling in nicely before blossoming with some glorious strokeplay.

He and fellow Guyanese Sarwan shared a match-winning second wicket stand of 119 in 23 overs.

Sarwan fell trying to loft McCallan and holed out to deep-midwicket. But Chanderpaul collected his third one-day century in his last seven internationals before Samuels sealed the win with a six over midwicket. — AP

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