Cricket ICC Intercontinental Cup: With the ICC Cricket World Cup in the West Indies looming large on the horizon, Ireland will be desperate to beat the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the final group match of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, the first-class tournament for the top Associate sides, which starts in Abu Dhabi today.

Reflecting on Ireland's performance in winning just one match in five in the recent ICC World Cricket League Division One tournament in Kenya, national coach Adrian Birrell said: "This match is a good opportunity for us to get back on track after a difficult couple of weeks.

"We lost some very close matches in the World Cricket League and I don't think we deserved to finish fifth overall. We played better than that but sometimes your performance is not always reflected in the results.

"We are desperate to get something from this tour and if we beat the UAE it will be a big boost for us. Not only will it put us in the final of the Intercontinental Cup but it will help us psychologically as we make our final preparations for the West Indies."

Ireland are defending champions after beating Kenya in a thrilling final in Namibia in late 2005 and they must win at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in order to pip European rivals Scotland to a place in the final against Canada.

But that will be easier said than done. Trent Johnston's side are understandably low after their losses in Kenya, especially as the failure to reach the final of the tournament for the top six associates has cost them the chance to play in the ICC Twenty20 World Championships in South Africa later this year.

But now the players need to pick themselves up and perform against a UAE side that have already shown it can be a tough side to beat on its own turf.

There are plenty of positives for Ireland to take into this must-win game, despite the recent setbacks.

The batting was the main plus in Kenya as the side notched up five of the 10 hundreds that were compiled in the WCL Division One.

William Porterfield led the way with two of those three-figure scores and his tally of 332 runs was bettered by just one man, player of the tournament Ashish Bagai of Canada, who made 345 runs.

Ireland could boast two other players with more than 250 runs in Nairobi, Kevin O'Brien (264) and Eoin Morgan (261), and both of those also notched up hundreds, as did Jeremy Bray.

So runs should not be a problem, even allowing for the absence of wicketkeeper-batsman Niall O'Brien, who is missing through suspension after an ICC code of conduct violation during Ireland's match against Scotland last year.

But the real issue is whether Ireland can take the 20 wickets it will almost certainly need if it is to give itself the best chance of victory. The Ireland bowlers struggled to achieve control and penetration at vital times in Kenya and those failings may prompt some shuffling of the pack in Abu Dhabi.

Tall seam bowler Boyd Rankin, also on the books of English county Derbyshire, may get the chance to show his worth, while Kenny Carroll's left-arm wrist-spin, something he worked on during the recent ICC Winter Training Camp in South Africa, may also get an airing.

The home side has made two changes to the squad that played Scotland with right-arm medium-pacer Ali Asad, one of the side's leading bowlers, replaced by Wasim Bari, while off-spinning all-rounder Rameez Shahzad makes way for Fahad Usman.

Asad is absent with a groin injury while Shahzad has been dropped.

One certainty is that under Johnston's positive leadership, Ireland will be at full throttle to make amends for the disappointments of Kenya as the players look to put the smile back on the face of coach Birrell, who is quitting his post at the end of the ICC CWC.

UAE(from): Mohammad Iqbal, Arshad Ali (captain), Gayan Silva, Saqib Ali, Khurram Khan, Kashif Khan, Fahad Usman, Ahmed Nadeem, Wasim Bari, Qasim Zubair, Ahmed Raza, Naeemuddin Aslam, Ausaf Ali, Shadeep Silva.

IRELAND(from): Trent Johnston (captain), Kyle McCallan, Andre Botha, Peter Gillespie, Kenny Carroll, Jeremy Bray, William Porterfield, Kevin O'Brien, John Mooney, Paul Mooney, David Langford-Smith, Eoin Morgan, Andrew White, Boyd Rankin.

Umpires: Tyron Wijewardene (Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires) and Shahul Hameed (ICC Associates and Affiliates International Umpires Panel)..