Darren Sammy’s brilliant all-round performance saved West Indies the blushes against minnows Ireland in their opening encounter in the T20 World Cup at the Providence stadium here on Sunday.

Sammy struck a quickfire 30 to lend substance to the stuttering West Indies batting and then followed it up with three wickets and also picked up four catches as Ireland flattered to deceive after restricting West Indies to 138 for nine.

The sluggish pitch at Providence stadium prevented extravagant strokeplay and West Indies missing their captain Chris Gayle, whose back injury flared up before the start of the match, struggled against the Ireland’s pop gun pace attack. Left arm spinner Dockrell was niggardly and took three wickets.

West Indies openers Fletcher and Chanderpaul found it difficult to force the ball off square and Chanderpaul misery ended when he top-edged a pull. The stand-in skipper Bravo sparkled for a while and made a quick 18 to add impetus to the total but the innings got into a rut after his dismissal. Sarwan anchored the innings but the spinners choked the flow of runs as the West Indies scored 69 for two in their first compliment of 10 overs.

Dockrell scalped both Fletcher and Sarwan in one over to push the West Indies on to the backfoot and when Ranklin prised out Ramdin in the next over the writing was on the wall. But Sammy hit some lusty blows as West Indies collected 46 runs in their last five overs to reach a respectable score.

The Irish batsmen found Roach’s pace too hot to handle. Sammy picked up a blinder at second slip to dismiss Porterfield off Roach’s second ball. Ravi Rampal reduced Ireland to 11 for three picking up two wickets in his first over. There was no respite for Ireland after the rain induced break. West Indies came at them hard and Rampal picked up his third to reduce Ireland to 16 for four. A brief 23-run fifth wicket stand between Wilson and O’Brien was the best phase which Ireland enjoyed in the match. Sammy had first of his three wickets when O’Brien’s attempt to clear long on ended in a tame catch to fletcher. West Indies tightened the noose with disciplined attack and Ireland caved in meekly. None of the batsmen barring Wilson (17) crossed double figures and the highest score in the innings was extras (19) and it was an insipid batting display by Ireland.