West Indies vs. Ireland: Date, Live Stream, TV Info, Cricket World Cup Preview
The West Indies team are always a thoroughly entertaining side to watch and they get their 2015 World Cup campaign underway against Ireland in Nelson.
The Windies haven’t enjoyed the best of preparations coming into this tournament, but they still boast an array of effervescent players capable of taking them far in this competition. Their opponents Ireland are a team on the up, however, and they’ll be keen to show they can mix it alongside the Test-playing nations on the biggest stage.
It’s not a match to be missed and after both teams enjoyed wins in their last warm-up encounters, we should see some confident play on show. Here’s all the information you need on where to catch this enticing game and a detailed examination of both teams on the brink of their tournament getting underway.
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Date: Monday Feb. 16
Time: 10 p.m. (Feb. 15) GMT/11 a.m. local time
Live Stream: Sky Go (UK)
TV Info: Sky Sports 2 (UK)
Windies Looking to Put Off-Field Issues Behind Them
Ahead of this tournament, it wouldn’t be over-exaggerating to say that the West Indies have been in turmoil. Limited-overs captain Dwayne Bravo was sacked on the back of a player revolt during a tour of India and Jason Holder was instilled as skipper just two months before this tournament got underway.
In addition to Bravo’s omission, mercurial all-rounder Kieron Pollard and front-line spin-bowler Sunil Narine will also be missing for this World Cup. Subsequently, this group will contain a few fresh faces for those who aren’t staunch followers of the sport. However, at the top of the order, Chris Gayle remains an immovable figure.
As we can see here courtesy of BBC Radio 5 Live, the big-hitting opening batsman was recently named in a list of the game’s greatest one-day international players:
Much of their hopes rest with the 35-year-old star—even though he's been far from his best as of late—as the rest of the lineup leaves much to be desired. With ball in hand the Windies are erratic to say the least and ahead of this tournament their first-choice bowling attack conceded the fastest ever ODI century to South Africa and AB De Villiers.
As noted by Holder ahead of the tournament, it’s imperative that they showcase some level of consistency to flourish, per the team’s official Twitter account:
Encouragingly, history dictates that the West Indies do have a tendency of performing at their very best with their backs to the wall and that’s certainly the case as they gear up for their clash with an improving Ireland team.
The Irish are underdogs for their opener but will harbour some confidence coming into this one. Indeed, in the last World Cup they pulled off one of the biggest shocks in history when they beat England thanks to this record-breaking innings from Kevin O'Brien:
Captain William Porterfield remains this team’s classiest player and has six ODI centuries to his name. Men like Ed Joyce and O’Brien have also scored runs at the very highest level and will be keen to showcase their precocious talents on the world stage.
If the West Indies don’t get their act together then Ireland could spring a surprise here. But despite the turbulent build-up to the tournament, the Windies should have just enough quality to come through and gather some much-needed momentum.
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