Johnston keen to compete

Trent Johnston is adamant he has faith in his talented squad

Ireland captain Trent Johnston insists his side will not be intimidated by South Africa in their World Cup warm-up match.

The Irish face a tough time in their first World Cup in the Caribbean having been pitched in a group alongside hosts West Indies, Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

And it would seem they have little chance of a gentle preparation as they face the world’s top-ranked one-day side in Trinidad.

Nevertheless, Johnston is relishing the challenge and believes his team can give the Proteas a good game.

The Australian-born pace bowler said: “We are here to play good cricket and we will put up a fight.

“We are a group of amateur players but we are very keen to show that we are a talented bunch.

“Every one of our five top batsmen got centuries in the World League and they are capable.

“Our strength is our batting and we are going to try to put challenging scores together in order that our bowlers have good scores to bowl at.”

Ireland face a huge step up in class but coach Adrian Birrell feels his players have prepared as well they could during two months of almost constant cricket.

He said: “Our preparation has been ideal and what we hope to achieve at most is being competitive.

“It is difficult to think that we can beat the number one team in the world but it will do us the world of good just to be competitive against these guys.

“We will decide on our final team just before play and we have already set ourselves certain milestones and, if we achieve them, we will be very happy, no matter what the result.”

Ireland play a second warm-up fixture against Canada on Thursday before beginning their campaign against Zimbabwe in Jamaica on March 15.