Despite being born in New Zealand, West qualified to play for Ireland in late 2008 and made his first appearance for the team the same year.
In 2011, West, at the age of 31, announced his retirement due to an injury to his left shoulder; his last match for Ireland was in August 2009.
[2] During the World Cup, he played alongside people such as James Franklin who went on to represent New Zealand in Tests and ODIs.
[6] West was a member of Instonians in 2003 and in 2004 he moved to Bangor Cricket Club where he was the team's professional player for two seasons.
At the end of the 2005 season, West moved back to Instonians where he was a local player rather than a professional, stating "I enjoyed my two years at Bangor and made a lot of friends there, however, now that I am working full time [in an accountants' firm] and living in Belfast it seemed a natural move to come back to Instonians".
[11] West made his first-class debut for Ireland on 3 October the same year; the match was against Namibia in the 2007–08 ICC Intercontinental Cup.
[17] His haul of 7/88 in the first innings of the 2009 Intercontinental Cup clash against Scotland at Mannonfield in Aberdeen, is a record for Ireland in the competition and the best first-class return since Garfield Harrison's 9/113 against the same opposition in Edinburgh in 1990.
[19] For the summer of 2010, West was unable to play due to injury,[20] and in his absence George Dockrell emerged as Ireland's premier spinner.