Ian Callender in Nelson

CAPTAIN William Porterfield says both he and the Ireland squad are in a ‘good place' going into their World Cup opener here against West Indies tonight (10pm).

Porterfield was in New Zealand for only a couple of days on the acclimatisation tour last October, having to return home for personal reasons, and missed all three matches in the country. But the Donemana man insists that is all behind him.

“All the lads have been fantastic with myself and I'm fired and ready to go. All that needed to be sorted was sorted by November, so I'm in a good place.

“And so are the team. We're in that incline and have to put in a good performance on Monday (New Zealand time),” said Porterfield.

The incline, at the moment, is slight, based on Thursday's warm-up win against Bangladesh which, if not wiping the memory of their three previous games, which ended in defeat, at least sends them into their opener with confidence. Not that it has been lacking, says the skipper.

We had a freshen-up day between the Scotland game and the Bangladesh game and it showed the character of the side. But just as the losses don't count for much, the win won't count for anything if we don't follow it up on Monday ,” he added.

Porterfield will publicly say that if things go wrong tonight it is by no means the end of their World Cup but privately he knows there are must win games in Group B and for Ireland they don't come any bigger than the West Indies.

With world No 2 South Africa and defending champions India to come in games three and five in the seven-team Group B - opponents Ireland have never beaten - Porterfield knows an opening win is nigh-on essential. If it does go pear-shape then they will probably have to repeat their 2007 World Cup win over Pakistan in the last game, still four weeks away, to make the top four and a passage to the knock-out quarter finals.

But it is these big games that Ireland have and are demanding and the rest is up to the squad.

“Any game against one of the top eight is always a big game and that's where we're looking to be and we as players have to go out and prove that ," says Porterfield.

“In cricketing terms, it's just another game but we know what it means to everyone back home and to ourselves. We are playing in a World Cup and looking to put on a show.

“We have to treat it as a must win game and get two points and then look forward to the UAE game On our day we can beat anyone.”