Paul Mooney has been ruled out of the Ireland cricket team ahead of the final of Inter-Continental Cup against Kenya which gets underway in Namibia today.

The North County pace bowler managed just one over in the second innings of the semi-final against United Arab Emirates before aggravating a back injury and he has not sufficiently recovered to take his place in the final. While the loss of Mooney is a blow to Ireland's chances of winning the cup for the first time, the team is boosted by the return of all-rounders Andre Botha and Andy White, neither of whom played any part in the semi-final.

Coach Adrian Birrell has opted to pack his side full of batsmen and leg-spinner Greg Thompson has been dropped. Thompson's form has been poor here so far although his absence will restrict Ireland's bowling options to either pace or off-spin.

On what is going to be a batsman's paradise of a track, Ireland will look to bat first and a total around 400 in the first innings would give them a good lead in terms of bonus points. With wickets very difficult to come by on such a good batting wicket, it is unlikely that the game will yield an outright winner. In that case the points system will come into play.

Under the competition rules, each side can bat for a maximum of 90 overs in the first innings, gaining half a batting point for each 25 runs scored. The bowling side receives half a point for each wicket they take. In the second innings, the batting side can score a maximum of five points (by getting to 200), the same number of points on offer to the bowling side.

Ireland showed their batting strength in the semi-final with Jeremy Bray (78 and 190), Niall O'Brien (176) and Eoin Morgan (151) all in the runs.

For the final, more of the same will be the plan. Then Ireland's bowlers will have to show great discipline if they are to contain Kenya's prolific top order, led by 34-year-old Steve Tikolo who made a record 220 in the other semi-final against Bermuda.

Ireland: Dominick Joyce, Jeremy Bray, Eoin Morgan, Niall O'Brien, Andre Botha, Trent Johnston, Andy White, Peter Gillespie, Conor Armstrong, Kyle McCallan, Adrian McCoubrey.

Kenya (from): Steve Tikolo (captain), Thomas Odoyo, Kennedy Otieno, Maurice Ouma, Kalpesh Patel, Ragheb Aga, Lameck Onyango, Collins Obuya, Mohammed Sheikh, Peter Ongondo, Martin Suji, Hitesh Modi, Tony Suji.