Trent Johnston was Ireland's best bowler (picture - Ian Jacobs)

Ireland were beaten by 31 runs by the West Indies in their latest warm-up match ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 which starts later this month.

The West Indies were in trouble at 10-3 in the Twenty20 game in Jamaica but Narsingh Deonarine's 40 helped the hosts post a total of 143-8.

In reply, Ireland were reduced to 9-3 and while Paul Stirling hit 25, the Irish could only manage 112-7.

Ireland will face the West Indies in a full one-day international on Thursday.

After their slow start, the West Indies scored 80 runs in their last six overs, with Deonarine's 40 coming off 32 balls.

The Irish seemed to have the upper hand on their World Twenty20 group opponents during the early exchanges after Andre Fletcher (6), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (1) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (2) were all removed cheaply.

But Darren Bravo (19), stand-in captain Darren Sammy (26) and Wavell Hinds (21) all made valuable contributions towards the West Indies revival.

Trent Johnston was the chief wicket-taker for the Irish, with figures of 2-19 off his four overs while Paul Stirling snared 1-13.

We didn't bat well enough Ireland coach Phil Simmons

However, captain William Porterfield sent back into the pavilion for a duck off the third ball of the Irish innings and Niall O'Brien and Gary Wilson also soon departed.

Stirling - who hit his 25 off 35 balls - and Andrew White (16) rallied to push the total to 46 before Stirling was removed to spell the end for their efforts.

Sulieman Benn was the most successful bowler for the West Indies with a haul of 2-12 while Darren Sammy (2-15), Ravi Rampaul (2-19) and David Bernard Jnr (1-17) also notched wickets.

Ireland coach, Phil Simmons, blamed his team's poor batting for the defeat but was encouraged by their efforts in the field.

"We didn't bat well enough and that was the main issue," said Simmons.

"We had them at 40 for 4 or something like that before we allowed it to slip.

"We should have gotten closer to their score so it's a case where we have to do some work on our batting," said Simmons.

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