Ireland eye World Cup upset

Feb 15, 2015 - 5:01 AM Cricket World Cup giant killers Ireland are lining up another upset when they meet the West Indies in their opening match on Monday at Nelson's Saxton Oval.

Ireland's track record includes wins over England four years ago and Pakistan in 2007, and opener William Porterfield has every confidence they can repeat the dose against the Windies, who sit eighth on the ICC's one-day rankings.

"I don't think it'll be a surprise to anyone if we can go out there and win games," he said.

Ireland have a four-wicket warm-up win over Bangladesh to boost their confidence, while the West Indies fell to a comprehensive nine-wicket loss against England last week, all out for 122 in less than 30 overs.

They were also stretched by Scotland soon after, sneaking a three-run win in Sydney last week with three balls to spare.

Young skipper Jason Holder took over the helm after Dwayne Bravo was dropped along with Kieron Pollard after the players' strike during last year's tour of India.

He admits their experience will be missed, but says the team is ready to kick on.

"Everything is done and dusted in my opinion. We've moved on from it - it's beyond our control, so we just put it behind us, and we're ready to go tomorrow."

Led by Chris Gayle in his fourth World Cup, the Windies boast an experienced batting line-up and although they will be without spinner Sunil Narine, Holder says there's still plenty of firepower available, led by pace duo Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach.

The Saxton Park Oval pitch looks to be offering some movement, and Holder is hopeful his bowlers can make the most of it.

"I've had a look at the pitch yesterday and there was quite a bit of grass on it, so we'll just see how it looks today and move forward.

"There's normally movement here in New Zealand - all the pitches are quite slow, but there's normal movement for the ball so whatever we can add will be positive for us."

Source: AAP