England hope to continue momentum

If England's performances at the cricket World Cup continue their upward curve then Ireland should be annihilated on Wednesday in their Group B encounter

That, of course, won't happen but after two shaky warm-up games and an equally nervy opening game win against the Netherlands Andrew Strauss' men stepped it up a gear (or two, three) against tournament favourites India to match them toe-to-toe and secure a point in a thrilling tie on Sunday.

They will hope that isn't their peak in this month long competition and will go a long way towards preventing that by avoiding embarrassment against Ireland.

Despite being a non-test playing nation the Irish still contain a number of county players and even an ex-England player in Ed Joyce, so they are no mugs when it comes to handling bat and ball.

The will be looking to bounce back at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium following their disappointing opening game defeat to Bangladesh, a game they had perhaps targeted to cause a shock.

If England fail to take the game seriously then a surprise is definitely possible – just ask the Pakistan team who were humbled by the Irish at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. Fans will no doubt be keeping a nervous eye on the live match score.

England will hope main strike bowler James Anderson will finally find some form in the competition. The leading wicket taker during the Ashes series has been disappointing so far, taking 1 for 91 against India, the equal second-most expensive figures ever by an England player in an ODI. Anderson had also cost 72 from his ten overs against the Netherlands in Nagpur. If he does that again, Ireland could be on for one of their higher cricket live scores.

With Stuart Broad battling illness the pressure is on the Lancastrian to hitting the ground running at the top of the order. But as long as England are getting result Strauss won't mind his players feeling their way into a tournament that still has over a month to run.