Ireland captain Paul Stirling said that his side “just fell short” as they lost their T20 series against West Indies at Bready.
The West Indies won the third and final match of the series by 62 runs on Sunday after setting Ireland an unassailable 256 chase.
That ensured the visitors won the series 1-0 after the first two games were abandoned due to the heavy rain, and despite his disappointment at the defeat, Stirling believes the game was a good test for Ireland against one of the world’s best sides.
“[There are] some positives to take from it,” he told BBC Sport NI.
“Bowling to a side like the West Indies, who are third or fourth in the world and have the most power of any team in international cricket, and to come up against them on a small enough pitch, they certainly showed what they were capable of, and the score was a tough one to chase.”
‘We’ve got a lot to work on’
Ireland managed a respectable 194-7 in their innings and Stirling, who was dismissed after 13 runs in the second over, was pleased with their effort.
“The message was to go out and give it your all and we just fell short, but there were periods of the game where we feel we were up to the standard and the West Indies score, but it kept going up towards the end,” he added.
Stirling reserved praise for Matthew Humphreys, who took the wickets of Rovman Powell and Evin Lewis in the 12th over.
“That is one of the best spells of T20 international bowling I’ve witnessed from us,” Stirling continued.
“The context too, he bowled a left hander at all stages and had short boundaries so to come out with 16 runs and two wickets is a real positive, he has really taken that new bowl in his stride and we’re really happy with how he is trucking.”
Ireland are not in action again until September, when they face England in a three-day T20 series in Malahide.
Stirling is hoping that Ireland can use the intervening three-month period to work on areas they need to improve.
“We’ve got a lot to work on, we have domestic cricket coming up in the next weeks and the gap after that will be the tricky part, we have to come into September in better preparation than we are at already.”
Source: BBC Sports
