Women's T20 World Cup qualifier: Ireland take on Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi opener

Ven EU: Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi Date: Sunday, September 18 Start Time: 4:00 p.m. BSTCoverage: Scoreboard and match report on the website of BBC Sport

Ed Joyce's side will need to reach the final of the eight-team tournament to qualify for the World Cup Next year's T20 in South Africa.

The Irish beat both the Netherlands and Scotland in the recent T20 series and all-rounder Arlene Kelly says morale is high.

"The atmosphere within the team is really good," said the New Zealand native.

"We've had some good wins lately and it's great to have some momentum going into qualifying.

The 28-year-old Auckland-born player won two wickets on her Irish debut in June as that she was helping the Irish to a shock 10-point win over South Africa.

Kelly, who had a season with England's Kent County in 2018, went on to take regular wickets in subsequent competitions against the Netherlands and Scotland and is now set to start Sunday's opener at Zayed Cricket Stadium.

"Personally it's been an amazing year and a bit of a whirlwind for me to be honest," said said Kelly, who qualifies to represent the team in green due to her Irish-born mother, with both her father's parents also hailing from the Emerald Isle.

After Sunday's opener, the Irish will face USA at Tolerance Oval in Abu Dhabi on Monday ahead of Wednesday's final group game against Scotland at the same venue.

The teams must place in the top two of their group to reach next Friday's semi-finals, with the winners of the last four competitions guaranteeing passage to next year's tournament, regardless of the outcome of the qualifying final out of 25 September.

The training of fra Irish players include Leah Paul and captain Laura Delany who both struck centuries when Ireland women posted their record single-day score of 337-8 against the Dutch last month, plus Gaby Lewis, who played for the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred this summer.