EIGHT years after Ireland made their mark on the world stage with victory over Pakistan at the World Cup,
William Porterfield leads the class of 2015 into the opening match of their seventh global event tomorrow night (10pm GMT) in Nelson, New Zealand.

The town at the top of the South Island may not be the most glamorous of the 14 venues being used at the 11 th ICC World Cup finals - certainly not on a par with Ireland's openers in Sabina Park, Jamaica in 2007 or the 50,000 capacity stadium outside Dacca, Bangladesh four years ago - but then Ireland v West Indies is not the most attractive of the early matches. At least in the bigger picture.

It is 12 th v 8 th in the world rankings but while West Indies, on their day, can beat any team in the world, Ireland have yet to do that and will once again have to prove they belong with the big boys.

But that is the way this Ireland squad would want it. Ask National Coach Phil Simmons to compare the three squads who have played in the 50-over tournament - still the highlight of the cricket calendar despite Test matches having the higher status - and the West Indian refuses point blank.

“It would be harsh on some players,” is his honest answer, but bravely he says “I think this squad might go further than the others”.

It is a brave call because although five of Ireland's 15-man squad are playing in their third World Cup and four others are survivors from 2011, it follows that at least two of the others will have to perform on their debut on the world stage.

The harsh comparison which Simmons hints at is the opening bowling attack. In 2007 and 2011 Ireland had Boyd Rankin and Trent Johnston, the former having transferred his allegiance to England and the latter, who retired from the international stage at the end of 2013, has since returned to his native Australia as assistant coach of New South Wales.

This time, Ireland must rely on a combination of John Mooney and debutants Craig Young and Max Sorensen, but there is a quiet confidence in the camp that they can produce the goods when it matters.

Young, who give up county cricket, to return home on a full Ireland contract, has been a regular wicket-taker with the new ball since the one-day internationals against Scotland at Malahide in September, Sorensen was desperately disappointed to miss out on the original selection - only getting his call-up following the injury to Tim Murtagh - and is now showing why he should have been a first choice selection while Mooney, one of the veterans of 2007, rarely lets the side down.

On the fast scoring Australia pitches and smaller grounds in New Zealand, accurate and preferably wicket-taking opening spells are essential. Put bluntly, they can win or lose matches. With only two fielders allowed more than 30 yards away from the wickets, the incentive is there for opening batsmen to hit over the top and when Ireland face West Indies, South Africa, India and Pakistan, they will come up against world class players who do just that - Chris Gayle, Hashim Amla and Shikar Dhawan from the first three named.

And that's where the word pressure comes in. “There is no pressure from outside,” insists Simmons. “We put pressure on ourselves to win games, but it is a question of limiting it.”

And they proved, in Thursday's final warm-up game, against Bangladesh that they can do it. Ireland went into that game on back of three successive defeats, to Afghanistan, Randwick Petersham (a Sydney Grade side) and Scotland, but it was still a relaxed and confident side which beat the Full Member by four wickets with more than three overs to spare.

No-one was more relaxed than Andrew Balbirnie, the Middlesex professional, who is upstaging his big-hitting county team-mate Paul Stirling. ‘Balbo' was not even sure of his place on the World Cup acclimatisation tour in the autumn but he finished it as leading runs scorer and his maiden international century, the little matter of 129 against a strong New Zealand A side, booked his place in the World Cup squad.

His form, which continued in the Tri-Series in Dubai last month and in the warm-up games in Sydney, makes him undroppable and, as he had batted in almost every position from one to seven, it not only gives Ireland an extra batsman but a batsman for every occasion.

The worry for Ireland going into the tournament is the form of his more experienced team-mates. Only Ed Joyce has found any consistency in Australia and although the captain spent valuable time at the crease on Thursday, runs are still hard to come by.

Stirling and Gary Wilson do not have a meaningful score to their name In 2015 but it really is a case of Stirlo being just one innings from a big one and Wilson's recent record against West Indies - two 60s in the last three ODIs - should send him to the middle tomorrow night with plenty of confidence.

“We have still work to do on the batting,” admits Simmons, “but everybody is getting better and better, and that's what you want going into a World Cup.”

Even after the encouraging and timely victory over Bangladesh, Simmons was playing down his side's chances.
“You can't tell from warm-up matches,” he added. “We just want to play good cricket and at the end of the tournament we will know where we are. We want to be at the top of our game for every match so no predictions, we could end up at the top or end up at the bottom.”

The most likely scenario is somewhere in the middle but, significantly, Simmons was looking to the end of the tournament, not just the group stage. There is a real belief in this squad that they will finish in the top four in Pool B and a guaranteed quarter-final match.

It would take a wild leap of faith to predict anything but a South Africa, India 1-2 in the group but Pakistan, as Ireland have already proven, are an unpredictable side and West Indies are just not very good at the moment. Their world ranking does not lie and with two of their match-winners - Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy left at home following a dispute in India last winter -and Gayle openly complaining about their omission they are hardly a united squad.

Zimbabwe defeated Sri Lanka in midweek so cannot be taken lightly when Ireland meet them in Hobart in match four, but they along with the UAE, the one team Ireland are seeded to beat, are, quite simply, opponents whom Ireland must beat if they are to have any aspirations of making the last eight.

I still feel that it is win or bust for Ireland in their opening match. Defeat against Bangladesh ultimately cost them a quarter final in 2011 and they had to make do with a tie against Zimbabwe four years earlier. Victory tomorrow night and Ireland should be on course for another memorable World Cup but defeat and it could be a long four weeks Down Under. The stakes could not be higher.