West Indies enter next round in World T20

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West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle (C) celebrates with his captain Darren Sammy (L) after he dismissed Ireland cricketer Niall O’Brien (R) during the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup match between West Indies and Ireland at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The West Indies qualified for the Super Eights stage of the World Twenty20 after the match against Ireland was abandoned due to rain.

COLOMBO - The West Indies qualified for the Super Eights stage of the World Twenty20 after their Group B match against Ireland was abandoned due to rain on Monday.

Ireland made 129-6 in their 19 overs before heavy rain at the Premadasa stadium prevented the West Indies from starting their innings.

Both teams gained one point each, but the West Indies joined Group B winners Australia in the next round due to a superior net run-rate over the Irish.

The West Indies will be placed alongside defending champions England, New Zealand and hosts Sri Lanka in group one of the Super Eights which starts on Thursday.

The other half has Australia, South Africa, India and either Pakistan or Bangladesh, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals.

The match, watched by barely 1,000 fans, was reduced to 19 overs per side after an hour’s interruption midway through Ireland’s innings due to rain.

Chris Gayle turned star performer with the ball with two wickets as the Ireland innings failed to gain any momentum after the West Indies won the toss and elected to field.

Niall O’Brien made 25 and Gary Wilson scored 21, before both batsmen fell to Gayle’s off-spin.

Irish captain William Porterfield was dismissed off the first ball of the match for the second time in a row, bowled by Fidel Edwards.

He had also fallen to Australian Shane Watson‘s first delivery in Ireland’s previous match last week.

The West Indies, who had lost to Australia in a rain-affected match, endured another wet outing as rain lashed the ground during the innings break.