Looking forward to Ireland's second World Cup group match against the United Arab Emirates (03:30 Irish time, Wednesday 25th), CricketEurope previews Ireland's opponents, their form, their key players, and the venue.

The UAE: form guide

ICC ODI ranking: N/A (not qualified, but ranked 1st among other Associate nations)

ODI form prior to the World Cup: L W W W L W L

In a word, mixed. Of their last seven ODIs prior to the group stage, the UAE won four and lost three. That's not a bad record, but there are two major qualifications. First, these are the only ODIs that the UAE have played since 2008, having regained ODI status just last year. Second, none of these matches was against a Test nation: the UAE beat Afghanistan three times and lost twice, defeated Hong Kong, and lost to Scotland.

On paper, then, Ireland have nothing much to fear: the UAE have limited experience of playing the top nations and a mixed record against other associates. In their first group match, however, the UAE ran Zimbabwe close: having posted a respectable total of 285, the Emiratis had the Zimbabweans in a spot of bother at 167-5 before Sean Williams and Craig Ervine turned things around. Losing by four wickets with only two overs remaining suggests the UAE will be far from a pushover.

Star men

Because of their lack of ODI experience, none of the Emiratis figure in the ICC's official player rankings. Still, judging by the performance against Zimbabwe, a few players need to be watched. Khurram Khan, for instance, averages 52.44 in ODIs dating back to 2004. His record includes an unbeaten 132 against Afghanistan last year and, if anybody can remember his performances during the 2005 ICC Trophy in Ireland, they will recall a classy left-hander. Amjad Ali, another experienced campaigner, averages almost 40 in ODIs, while the explosive Shaiman Anwar smacked 67 from 50 balls against Zimbabwe.

The Emiratis appear weaker with the ball: Khurram Khan, with his slow-left-arm, is also their leading wicket-taker in ODIs. Seamers Krishna Chandran and Fahad Alhashmi seem to most likely to surpass him - eventually - in those stakes.

Head to head

The Irish have an almost perfect record against the UAE: only two defeats blot the copybook, and these came in the ICC Trophies of 1994 and 2001. An unbeaten Ed Joyce century guided the Irish to their first victory over the Emiratis during the 2005 ICC Trophy and, since then, they have delivered a series of dominant performances: 11 wins from 13, and 2 draws in multi-day matches. In one-day cricket, the Irish have won the last four encounters comfortably, all of them chasing. None of these, however, had ODI status.

The ground

The Gabba in Brisbane is one of the best-known grounds in world cricket. Here are the stats for the 32 ODIs held there since 2000 (ignoring the 4 ‘no results'):

43% of teams win the toss and bat first
50% of matches are won batting first
Average score batting first: 242
Average runs per over (across both innings): 5.05
Average runs per wicket: 30.24

Predictions

Following arguably the best victory in Irish cricketing history, the relatively easy opposition represented by the UAE also represents a banana-skin: all the glory and the progress heralded by the defeat of the West Indies could be undone if they slip up in Brisbane. Certainly, the UAE are no mugs, as their performance against Zimbabwe demonstrated. This, however, is unlikely to happen: with heads screwed on, the Irish should win comfortably.