IRELAND are learning the hard way how to play Twenty20 cricket on the big stage.

Match nine in a fledgling career was a nine wickets defeat to the West Indies, defending 130, but the bowlers could not be blamed. Until the batsmen get meaningful runs on the board the attack is on a hiding to nothing.
And with Chris Gayle in the opposition, able to hit sixes for fun, they duly got their hiding. The West Indies skipper helped himself to 88 runs from 55 balls with six fours and seven maximums, all but one of them into the stands at The Oval. The Irish bowling all came alike to Gayle who lived up to his name and blew away the outclassed opposition.

Kyle McCallan had to look over his shoulder and watch in admiration as three of the sixes flew into the pavilion, and Boyd Rankin, Alex Cusack and, in the last over, John Mooney, twice, all suffered the same fate.

At the other end Andre Fletcher dealt exclusively in fours at the start - between the second and fifth over seven successive scoring shots went to the boundary - before he was beaten by McCallan's second delivery and skyed a catch to backward point. It was to be Ireland's only breakthrough as Ramnaresh Sarwan was content to compile 25 runs in the second wicket stand of 79.

West Indies actually named 13 players, rendering this World T20 warm-up an non-cap match but, in effect, the used only eight. Ireland, as expected, included all four of the squad20left out in the Golden Over defeat of the Netherlands with Peter Connell, Regan West, Gary Wilson and Paul Stirling, who sat an A-level in London at 8.20 yesterday morning, the absentees.

Niall O'Brien, in his first game for Ireland since the I-Cup final in April, showed what his country has been missing this summer with 22 from 21 balls including four memorable boundaries. But he gifted his wicket with a loose pull to Jerome Taylor at mid-wicket and it was a dismissal which summed up the Ireland innings.

Jeremy Bray threatened to repeat his heroics against New Zealand but he missed the sixth ball he faced from Sulieman Benn, and Kevin O'Brien and John Mooney both got into the 20s before getting out. From 62 for two at halfway, Ireland added just 68 in the last 10 overs, for the loss of five wickets. It was never going to be enough, with or without Gayle in the opposition.