Andrew Balbirnie hailed Paul Stirling's batting performance as Ireland after they gained revenge for the one-day series whitewash by the West Indies with a thrilling victory in their T20 opener yesterday.
Ireland set the hosts 209 to win in Grenada, Paul Stirling scoring 95 off 47 balls and fellow opener Kevin O’Brien chipping in with 48.
The West Indies, who are the reigning T20 world champions, needed 13 to win off the final over and looked set to inflict another harrowing defeat on Ireland when Dwayne Bravo hit a six off the second ball.
However, Josh Little took the wickets of both Sherfane Rutherford and Bravo to seal a famous victory.
"Everyone is ecstatic," said Ireland captain Balbirnie.
"We came so close in that second ODI and it maybe affected us in that third ODI, so to show the bottle and come out against one of the top teams in T20 cricket and get a win was great for the vibe of the team."
Stirling set the tone by smashing eight sixes and six fours in a brilliant batting display as Ireland scored a record 93-run powerplay.
"It was just about as well as I’ve ever seen Paul bat in T20 cricket – he’s a world-class player," said Balbirnie.
"He’s such as important player for us in all forms of cricket and he leads from the front, which he did today."
Stirling picked up the player of the match award and was delighted to come out on the right side of a tight contest.
"I think there's a huge different in mindset between T20 and ODI opening, here you have the chance to express yourself and really have fun, playing cricket as you did as a youngster and how you really want to play," he said.
"In 50-over cricket you have to try and bat a little bit longer, but it was just really fun today."
The second match of the three-game series takes place on Saturday at St Kitts and Nevis.
"It’s great to get a win obviously but you want to win a series and make history," said Balbirnie. "If we can do that in the next two games we can go home very happy."
