Opener lendl Simmons unbeaten 91 guided West Indies to a crushing nine-wicket win against Ireland to level the three-match series (1-1) at Warner Park in St. Kitts on Sunday.
Torrential rain wrecked the Twenty20 International on Saturday night at the same venue, forcing the match to be abandoned, leaving West Indies facing a must win situation in Sunday’s finale to save the series.
In the second match at the Grenada National Stadium, Ireland stunned the West Indies as they beat the regional team by four runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Veteran all-rounder Dwayne Bravo return to the side following a three-and-a-half year sojourn , ended in disappointment as he was only able to get two wickets and score nine runs. He was hit for 18 runs in his first over but his other three overs cost him just 10 runs, ended with figures of 4-28.
West Indies, who were chasing a demanding target of 209, failed to gather the 13 runs required off the last six balls of the contest and ended with 204 for seven wickets.
Despite two interruptions by rain at Warner Park, the West Indies comprehensively outplayed Ireland as the tourists collapsed from 50-1 to 138 all over when play resumed after a 45 minute break.
Captain Kieron Pollard got four wickets for 17 runs and ended the series with eight wickets. He was named Man-of-the-Series.
Both Simmons and Evin Lewis made light work of the chase, Simmons hitting five fours and 10 sixes in a blistering 40-ball knock that surpassed his previous best T20I score of 82.
Lewis added 46 from 25 deliveries in an opening stand worth 133 to help Ireland’s chances of winning the series. After Lewis was out Simmons ended the match with a six.
