A flying start against a bickering West Indies side in front of a sell-out crowd in Nelson would give the Boys in Green a genuine chance of grabbing one of the top four places in the seven-team group and qualification for the quarter-finals.
Whereas a defeat - particularly a heavy defeat - would make the nine-day gap to Ireland's second game against the United Arab Emirates seem a very long time.
In the warm-up matches preceding the World Cup, Ireland won one and lost one. Playing fellow minnows Scotland in Sydney, Scotland easily thumped the Irish by 179 runs. However, Ireland got their camp in order next up against Bangladesh winning by four wickets at the same venue.
West Indies are marred by selection concerns with Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo not making the trip to Australia and New Zealand for the World Cup. On top of that, poor form has the 1975 and 1979 champions as miserably under-power. This reflected in their showing in the warm-up games where they won one (against Scotland only by 3 runs) and lost one (to England by 9 wickets). Ireland have beaten the West Indies before. The Boys in Green won the first of two T20s at Sabina Park last year, against a side containing Chris Gayle, should have won the second and were then well beaten in the only ODI.