Ireland captain Paul Stirling won the toss and elected to bowl first in their Group A encounter against Canada at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium here on Friday.
“It's must win from here on. It's changed a lot since two days ago (talking about pitch). Looks like maybe there will be slightly less lateral movement. Has to be communication between keeper and bowler in the first couple of overs (about how the pitch is playing). White goes out. We've taken an extra seamer for the spinner,” Paul Stirling said after winning the toss.
“Would've bowled first as well. If we can put decent runs on the board, will not be easy to change. It's always good to see an associate country to beat a full member country. Hopefully what USA did to Pakistan, we can do to Ireland. If you play your A game on the day, you can beat anyone. One change - Nikhil Dutta goes out, Junaid Siddiqui comes in,” Saad Bin Zafar said.
Canada Squad: Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva (wk), Dilpreet Bajwa, Saad Bin Zafar (c), Dillon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Junaid Siddiqui, Jeremy Gordon
Ireland Squad: Andrew Balbirnie, Paul Stirling (c), Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Craig Young
Pitch experts Shaun Pollock and Dale Steyn expect the slow outfield and potential for swing to favour bowling first. They believe a score of 120 could be challenging to chase. The ICC acknowledged concerns about pitch consistency in a statement yesterday, outlining efforts to improve the surfaces for remaining matches.
This Group A encounter is crucial after the USA's surprising victories against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. With India also boasting a win, both Canada and Ireland are fighting for a second-place finish behind the co-hosts to progress to the knockout stages. The previous two matches at this venue saw teams batting first collapse for meagre totals.
