West Indies set to face Ireland challenge

The tri-series between Ireland, West Indies and Bangladesh starts Sunday with the opening encounter to be played between the hosts and the Caribbean side in Dublin.

After facing the heat against England in the recently concluded ODI and T20I series in the Caribbean, the men in maroon would be looking forward to clinch this tri-series in order to boost their confidence before the World Cup gets under way.

It’s not going to be a cakewalk though as Bangladesh have their best players available for the series while Ireland gave England a tough time in the one-off ODI on Friday.

If you look at the Windies’ squad for this series, there are few players that are not included for the World Cup but for others it’s an opportunity to get accustomed to these conditions in the Great Britain before the showpiece event kicks-off by the end of this month.

Darren Bravo would play a major role as he’s the most experienced batsman in the squad, while there will be expectations from Shai Hope at the same time. The top order batsman has played number of match-winning knocks in recent times and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Hope continues doing the same in this series.

Presence of Jason Holder, Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel adds firepower to their pace attack while they have players like Ashley Nurse, Roston Chase and Fabian Allen who can chip in with their handy all-round contributions.

Ireland too have a well balanced side with batting as their main strength. With the likes of William Porterfield, Paul Stirling, Gary Wilson and Kevin O’Brien, the hosts have the capability to post those competitive totals against their opponents.

Playing in home conditions will be another added advantage. Joshua Little had a fantastic ODI debut as he bagged four wickets against England and all eyes would be on the lanky bowler who’s got the ability to surprise batsmen with his pace and bounce. George Dockrell holds the key for Ireland in the spin department.