Toss Ireland chose to bat v West Indies
Ireland captain William Porterfield won the toss and chose to bat first against West Indies on a day that has no rain in the forecast. It is partly cloudy, but after Ireland’s last game, against Bangladesh, was washed out, they will welcome the chance to have a full match with the opportunity to get off the bottom of the points table.
West Indies brought in Fabian Allen for Shane Dowrich, with Dowrich having endured a poor day in the field in their loss against Bangladesh. Boyd Rankin and James McCollum have come in for Ireland, with Barry McCarthy and Lorcan Tucker missing out.
This is a rematch of the first game of this tri-series. In that match, the West Indies opening duo of John Campbell and Shai Hope shattered records with a 365-run stand, and West Indies romped to victory by 196 runs. That loss left Ireland with a heavily negative net run-rate, and the washout against Bangladesh meant they stayed at the bottom of the points table. However, victory here can lift them above West Indies.
Campbell didn’t play West Indies’ next game, against Bangladesh, due to a sore back, and looks to have not yet recovered for this game either.
Playing XIs:
Ireland: 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Andy Balbirnie, 4 James McCollum, 5 Kevin O’Brien, 6 Gary Wilson (wk), 7 George Dockrell, 8 Mark Adair, 9 Boyd Rankin, 10 Tim Murtagh, 11 Josh Little
West Indies: 1 Sunil Ambris, 2 Shai Hope (wk), 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Roston Chase, 5 Jonathan Carter, 6 Fabian Allen, 7 Ashley Nurse, 8 Jason Holder (capt), 9 Kemar Roach, 10 Sheldon Cotterell, 11 Shannon Gabriel