Ireland look for strong finish to tour

Match facts

February, Kingston
Start time 9.30am (14.30GMT)

Big picture

After the T20 series was shared on grubby, low, slow pitches, West Indies and Ireland have a quick turnaround to a one-off ODI. Ireland will need to be pick themselves up after the disappointment of not chasing down 97 on Friday, which would have given them their first series victory against a Full Member. The frustration will be heightened because that is the sort of success they now expect, rather than just hope for.

West Indies are firmly on notice. Their batting, especially, appears to have been caught out by the start of the home season, although they do have a bowling attack well suited to these types of pitches, which offers encouragement heading into the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.

West Indies' structure means that, for one match only, the captaincy will change hands as Dwayne Bravo takes over the role before handing it back to Darren Sammy for the T20 World Cup. It is a significantly different ODI squad from the T20 unit, with six players coming in, including the highly rated pace bowler Miguel Cummins.

Ireland's 50-over form was indifferent during the Nagico Super 50 but they were coming off a lengthy break. Although their batting struggled in Friday night's chase, they have a strong top order: their previous ODI against a Full Member saw them notch up 269 for 7 against England.

Form guide

(completed matches, most recent first)
West IndiesWLLWL
Ireland WWLTW

In his previous ODI, against New Zealand in Hamilton, Dwayne Bravo hit a stunning 106 off 81 balls - just the second century of his 154-match career. Someone of his talent warrants more hundreds; the lack of them caused by a mixture of batting in the middle order and a frustrating ability to play a wasteful shot. Now, as captain, hopefully he is ready to mould maturity with the immense natural talent he has. Throw in his skiddy medium pace, the ability to bowl a pinpoint yorker and his electric fielding, and he really should be the complete one-day cricketer.

William Porterfield is in the midst of a slump. Since slamming 127 off 69 balls against USA in the World T20 qualifiers he has a top score of 38 in 13 innings. No captain wants to feel he is not contributing to the team cause. However, as he showed against England in Dublin, when he struck 112, he has the ability to make big scores at this level.

There will be a number of changes for West Indies between the formats. Chris Gayle has again been ruled out after missing the second T20 as a cautious approach is taken ahead of the World T20. Expect them to include plenty of bowlers who can take the pace off the ball.

West Indies (possible) 1 Kieron Powell, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Kirk Edwards, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Dwayne Bravo (capt), 7 Darren Sammy, 8 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Jason Holder, 11 Nikita Miller

Ireland may want to consider bolstering the batting and Niall O'Brien, who was on the bench during the T20s, may be an option for them.

Ireland (possible) 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Gary Wilson (wk), 5 Niall O'Brien, 6 Kevin O'Brien, 7 Andrew Poynter, 8 Max Sorensen, 9 Alex Cusack, 10 Tim Murtagh, 11 George Dockrell

Though Sabina Park is known as one of the few pitches in the Caribbean to retain pace and bounce, the surfaces for the T20s were dreadfully slow and it seems unlikely things will be much different for this match. West Indies rely heavily on spin these days, so probably do not mind, but it does make you pine for the days of the ball flying past the nose.

Stats and trivia

• These teams have met four times in ODIs with West Indies winning three matches and one match ending without a result. The most recent contest between them was the 2011 World Cup.

"He is really working hard on his fitness, but he was feeling just a little soreness in his lower back and we decided we are not going to take the chance."
Darren Sammy on West Indies' approach with Chris Gayle

"We showed we are a match for the West Indies which is very pleasing."
Gary Wilson reflects on the shared T20s