It was a painful start to the ICC Women’s Championship for Ireland as they lost to West Indies in the first of the three one-day internationals at Bready by nine wickets.

Windies captain Hayley Matthews hit an ODI career best of 159 not out and with opening partner Realeanna Grimmond put on a record partnership of 258 as they chased down Ireland’s under-par 269 inside 39 overs.

The only reason it took so long was due to Matthews trying to get Grimmond to her maiden century but Louise Little finally made the breakthrough, having the 21-year-old caught behind for 90.

It should have been much closer – and would have been – but for two dropped catches and a no-ball which gave Matthews two lives. The first was when she was on 43, when she holed out to the mid-wicket boundary but the television umpire spotted that Georgina Dempsey had overstepped.

Nine runs later, the ball after bringing up her half-century, Jane Maguire put down a straightforward catch off sister Amy. There wasn’t to be a third chance. Well, not by Matthews. The other given was when the match was all but over, with Grimmond on 84 when Dempsey was again denied a wicket, this time by Aimee Maguire spilling another chance. Catching still comes back to bite this Ireland team.

As captain Gaby Lewis - playing in her 200th game - admitted afterwards, not only did the ‘drops’ cost them but they also left runs out there when they batted. At the second drinks break, after 34 overs, Ireland were 196 for three but two balls later Matthews bowled Rebecca Stokell for 20 and in the next seven overs, four more wickets fell for 36 runs.

The second was Amy Hunter, just four runs short of her second ODI century, bowled by the leg spin of Afy Fletcher, which had already claimed the huge wicket of Orla Prendergast for 30.

Lewis, the other member of the Big Three, was second top score with 39, caught in the deep off Matthews, but only Louise Little with a quickfire 27 off 29 made any significant contribution in the final overs.

The rest of the day belonged to the West Indies openers and mainly Matthews who hit 24 fours and two sixes in her 123-ball innings, which is set to propel her up to eighth in the ODI World rankings

Match two of the series is back at Bready on Sunday (10.45am).