Johnston: Ireland can upset Windies

Trent Johnston believes Ireland can beat the West Indies when they open their ICC World Twenty20 campaign against the hosts at the Guyana National Stadium.

Chris Gayle's side were beaten by seven runs at the same ground on Wednesday night in their final game before the tournament gets under way.

But the manner of their defeat, a batting collapse inspired by New Zealand's medium pacer Scott Styris with four wickets for 18 runs, has Johnston believing he can add the Windies to the list of previous Irish victims Pakistan and Bangladesh.

"Chris Gayle and (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul will be coming at us hard on Friday night and so if we can contain those guys, get a couple of early wickets - as we saw against New Zealand - then we can put the West Indies under a bit of pressure," Johnston said.

"If Scott Styris can get wickets against them then we've got three or four Scott Styrises in our team, bowling at the sort of pace he bowls.

"So it's a good sign for us. We've got the likes of myself, Andre (Botha), Alex Cusack and Kevin O'Brien."

He added: "We're not guys who are going to scare anyone with our pace but with our variation and if we execute our skills, they're going to be under a bit of pressure now after that result, being the home side, playing the opening date at a packed house.

"Hopefully we can come out and cause what we would expect with a victory but what everyone else would say is an upset."