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Ed Joyce starred with the bat as Ireland earned a famous six-wicket win over West Indies in Wednesday's Twenty20 clash at Sabina Park, Jamaica.

West Indies scored 116-8 off their 20 overs, Chris Gayle top-scoring with 18, and Alex Cusack, Kevin O'Brien and Tim Murtagh taking two wickets apiece.

Joyce contributed 40 not out and Andrew Poynter hit 32, as Ireland triumphed with five balls to spare.

Ireland will play the World T20 champions again on Friday.

The hosts won the toss but failed to make that count as Cusack and O'Brien ended with identical bowling figures of 2-17.

Murtagh finished with 2-28 and George Dockrell and Max Sorensen both took one wicket each.

Ireland lost William Porterfield for four in the first over of their innings, and Paul Stirling followed him to the pavilion for a duck in the second over.

Joyce and Poynter revived the Ireland innings, aided by Gary Wilson and O'Brien.

"They are a fairly scary team to play against but we know we've got a chance to beat anyone when we play well on our day," said Joyce, who was playing his first match of the Caribbean tour after missing the opening stages because of family commitments.

"They have a lot of power - Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith opening up, and Marlon Samuels. They also have the best Twenty20 bowler in the world in Sunil Narine.

"The bowlers set it up and we are all thrilled."

Ireland's victory came at the same ground where they beat Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup.

The teams meet again on Friday at the same venue before a one-off one-day international on Sunday that precedes England's limited-overs tour of the West Indies.

"We were a bit rusty and they came hard at us and in the end were the better team on the day," said West Indies captain Darren Sammy.

"We can't make any excuses. They bowled well against us and we just didn't handle it as we should have."

West Indies will defend their World T20 title in Bangladesh next month.