Ireland vs West Indies, 5th Match, Pool B - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Traditional giant-killers Ireland and under-pressure West Indies possess all the ingredients for a high-scoring clash in their opening World Cup match in Nelson on Monday. Both sides feature quality batsmen but relatively inexperienced bowling line-ups for a match they have each targeted as ripe for getting immediate points on the board.

West Indies and Ireland are leading contenders to fill the fourth quarter final spot along with South Africa, India and Pakistan from Pool B which also includes Zimbabwe and United Arab Emirates Ireland are no strangers to knocking over teams from cricket's elite top eight. At the 2011 World Cup they pulled off an historic win over England and four years before that they stunned Pakistan.

In the lead up to this tournament they beat ninth-placed Bangladesh who sit just one spot behind the West Indies in the International Cricket Council's one-day international rankings. However, they lost to Scotland before that game. West Indies meanwhile suffered a morale damaging nine-wicket loss to England last week when they were all out for 122 in 29.3 overs, and just managed to beat Scotland with three balls to spare.

In Chris Gayle, playing in his fourth World Cup, West Indies have a batsman who can turn a game in an over and along with Marlon Samuels, and Darren Sammy don't lack for muscle nor depth in the batting department. But there is a lack of experience among their bowlers not helped by the absence of spinner Sunil Narine.

Ireland will be banking on Kevin O'Brien to anchor their innings, recalling his World Cup record century off 50 deliveries in their shock win over England four years ago. His brother Niall O'Brien, along with William Porterfield and Ed Joyce add batting depth, but there is a question mark over their bowling.

Victories for each of the team's batting first in the World Cup games thus far had little bearing on Ireland captain William Porterfield who elected to field first under nippy conditions at the Saxton Oval in Nelson, New Zealand.

The pitch however looked hard despite a tinge of grass covering. Popular opinion pointed at a 300+ score. Interestingly, both the captains reckoned they would have fielded first.

In case you've forgotten, Ireland beat Pakistan (WC 2007) and England (WC 2011) while chasing. Just saying.

Teams:

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Dwayne Smith, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin(w), Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy, Andre Russell, Jason Holder(c), Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach.

Ireland: William Porterfield(c), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Niall O'Brien, Andrew Balbirnie, Gary Wilson(w), Kevin O'Brien, John Mooney, Max Sorensen, George Dockrell, Andy McBrine

They can cause serious problems for West Indies today. Don't write them off. If you think this is a walkover game, you are going to slip on a big banana skinreckons 'Beefy' Ian Botham.
They can cause serious problems for West Indies today. Don't write them off. If you think this is a walkover game, you are going to slip on a big banana skinreckons 'Beefy' Ian Botham.