Ireland win toss, Windies bat

Mohali - Ireland won the toss and put West Indies in to bat in their Group B match at the World Cup on Friday.

Ireland captain William Porterfield gave his bowlers first use of a seam-friendly pitch in the day game at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, but the Irish were without veteran allrounder Trent Johnston.

Johnston had not recovered from a bruised right knee and was replaced in the lineup by Andre Botha.

Ireland need to win at least two of their last three group games, against West Indies, South Africa and Netherlands, to have a chance of making the knockout stage.

West Indies opening batsman Chris Gayle was ruled out with an abdominal strain. The Caribbean team called in fast bowler Andre Russell in place of Gayle, to make use of any seam and swing in Mohali. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was pushed up the order to open the batting with Devon Smith.

West Indies had beaten the Netherlands and Bangladesh, and a third successive win will likely be enough to take them through to the quarterfinals.

Teams

Ireland: William Porterfield (captain), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Niall O'Brien, Gary Wilson, Kevin O'Brien, Alex Cusack, Andre Botha, John Mooney, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin.

West Indies: Devon Smith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Darren Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Kieron Pollard, Devon Thomas, Darren Sammy (captain), Andre Russell, Nikita Miller, Sulieman Benn, Kemar Roach.

Umpires: Asoka de Silva, Sri Lanka, and Shavir Tarapore, India.

TV umpire: Bruce Oxenford, Australia.

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama, Sri Lanka.