From the seaside idyll of Nelson to the subtropical expanse of Brisbane, from temporary stands to the multi-coloured seats in the giant concrete bowl of The Gabba, a lot has changed for Ireland in the long stretch from the opening World Cup win over the West Indies to tomorrow's
second Pool B outing against the United Arab Emirates (3.30am Irish time).
Hunted
One other thing that has changed is that Ireland are the hunted this time around, unbackable at 1-5 to beat a UAE side that have not won a game between the sides since the disastrous 2001 World Cup qualifying campaign in Toronto.
Most of the recent meetings between the sides have been played on grounds in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where the UAE's bevy of spin bowlers enjoy most advantage.
The pitches of New Zealand and Australia have taken that line of attack out of the equation, but the UAE's bowlers certainly gave Zimbabwe something to think about in chasing 286 in their opening game in Nelson.
It was the innings of Lisburn professional and Northern Knights batsman Craig Ervine that made the difference in the four-wicket win for Zimbabwe, his 42 from 32 balls coming in a vital partnership with Sean Williams (76 not out) that took the game away from the UAE.
With a squad packed with ex-pat players from the sub-continent, the UAE have plenty of strokemakers in their batting line-up, none more so than veteran Khurrum Khan, one of two 43-year-olds in the starting XI against Zimbabwe.
Yet the UAE have traditionally struggled with the bat against Ireland, averaging just over 170 in the last five one-day games, including scores of 196 and 165 in the two World Cup qualifiers in Sharjah back in March 2013.
Another area where the UAE have been well adrift of Ireland is in their fielding, with Ireland often giving them the runaround, something that can be exploited on the vast outfield at The Gabba.
Gameplan
With former
Pakistan
bowler Aaqib Javed having taken over as coach and with a prolonged build-up to the tournament that included a 3-1 ODI series win against
Afghanistan
in Dubai, the UAE are bound to have improved their sharpness in the field. Ireland’s gameplan will involve punishing any deficiencies that still exist.
That gameplan will have been pretty fluid in the build-up to the game, with Ireland reduced to a lot of indoor work due to the heavy rains that came in with Cyclone Marcia.
With Australia's game against Bangladesh falling victim to the weather last Saturday, the Ireland coaching staff will have little to go on in terms of how The Gabba pitches will play. The likelihood is that whatever side wins the toss will field first, even if it means dealing with temperatures that are expected to hit 30 degrees.
After a training session on Monday, Ireland skipper William Porterfield reported that the Ireland squad was raring to go after the long break as they look to make it two from two in their stated goal of making the quarter-finals.
Speaking of the boost the West Indies win gave the squad, Porterfield said: “I think it’s reinforced everything as opposed to shot the confidence up. I think our preparation up until that has been fantastic and the lads are in a good place.
“A couple of the warm-up games didn’t go our way and then we had the win against Bangladesh, but we knew we were doing the right things and we had to believe in that.
“And that came through in the West Indies game and we’ve just got to start afresh again, not pick up where we left off as such, but start again, different team, slightly different preparations and get out there and put in the same performance.”
