West Indies skipper Brian Lara notched a stunning hundred to steer his side to victory over Ireland in their first tour match - then ordered them to sharpen up if they harbour ambitions of beating England. Lara spared his side's blushes with 106 in 99 balls only to see his team-mates cave in at the other end as they limped to a disappointing 242 all out with over three overs remaining in Belfast.
The Windies' pace attack eventually swung the game in the tourists' favour after skittling the hosts out 96 runs short of parity, but Lara admitted: "I'm not too happy with our overall performance. We looked tired and the top three and lower order both need to show more. It was only really the middle order who contributed with the bat."
He added: "We'll be working on that but we're a young side and there's competition for places so I'm confident we'll improve. Ireland's top three looked strong but they need more match-winners - and we have to step up a level because we will be playing better teams soon. However, on a personal note, it was nice to score a hundred and I felt I acclimatised quite quickly after a tricky start."
Seamer Adrian McCoubrey sent Devon Smith and Chris Gayle on their way back to the pavilion as the West Indies wobbled to 40 for three following Shivnarine Chanderpaul's early run out. Lara survived two confident early appeals before putting on 139 for the fourth wicket alongside Dwayne Bravo to turn the tide.
He eventually hit spinner Andrew White to Kyle McCallan on the deep midwicket boundary while trying to clear the ropes for a fifth time. South African all-rounder Andre Botha mopped up the tail with three for 42 to leave the hosts in with a shout as the last four batsmen fell for just 18.
Ireland started brightly in reply, skipper Jason Molins and Jeremy Bray putting on a quickfire 30 before young paceman Ravi Rampaul sent them packing with a devastating spell that also accounted for Niall O'Brien. Ireland then slumped to 91 for six, key men Jeremy Bray and Botha playing on in the face of some fierce tourists' bowling.
Jermaine Lawson (one for 30), Ian Bradshaw (two for 22) and debutant Darren Sammy (one for 28) all chipped in as the Irish run chase petered away. Only Kyle McCallan (32) and Australian Trent Johnston (17) offered any real resistance, with Gordon Cooke unfit to bat after twisting his ankle in the outfield.
Ireland skipper Jason Molins admitted: "We got a fairly good start but we didn't make the most of it. I don't think 242 was a very good score on that wicket but we didn't make the most of it. We felt if we had one or two partnerships of substance we were in with a real chance so to not manage that was a real disappointment."
He added: "But this was a step up for us. The West Indies' bowling was very disciplined, they were bowling in good areas. We needed six an over for the last 20 overs which was OK in itself but we were always struggling with the wickets in hand."
Filed by Shane Murray
