Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie won the toss and elected to bat in the second one-day international at Southampton on Saturday as Reece Topley was recalled for his first England appearance in over four years.
Balbirnie decided to bat even though Ireland were skittled out for 172 in a six-wicket loss to world champions England in the first ODI of a three-match series at the Ageas Bowl, Hampshire's headquarters on Thursday.
"It's a used wicket so that's why we want to bat first, but we've got to bat better," said Balbirnie, whose side slumped to 28-5 on Thursday before Curtis Campher's unbeaten fifty on debut revived the innings.
"We need to show a bit more application early on in the innings."
England captain Eoin Morgan was unconcerned at losing the toss.
"We're not really bothered, to be honest. We don't mind batting first or chasing," he said.
England made one change to their side, with left-arm paceman Topley recalled for his first international since the 2016 T20 World Cup following career-threatening back problems, in place of Tom Curran.
England will now field two left-arm quicks, with David Willey having taken an ODI best 5-30 on Thursday.
Ireland also made a change, with Josh Little following opening bowler Barry McCarthy's series-ending knee injury on Thursday.
England's red and white-ball fixtures are overlapping in a season cut short by the global pandemic and they are maintaining two separate squads, meaning a clutch of World Cup winners including Joe Root and Ben Stokes will not feature against Ireland.
This series launches the new World Cup Super League, which will determine qualification for the 2023 50-over showpiece in India.
Teams
England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow (wkt), James Vince, Eoin Morgan (capt), Tom Banton, Sam Billings, Moeen Ali, David Willey, Reece Topley, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood
Ireland: Paul Stirling, Gareth Delany, Andy Balbirnie (capt), Harry Tector, Kevin O'Brien, Lorcan Tucker (wkt), Simi Singh, Curtis Campher, Andy McBrine, Craig Young, Josh Little
Umpires: David Millns (ENG), Alex Wharf (ENG)
TV umpire: Mike Burns (ENG)
Match referee: Phil Whitticase (ENG)
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Andrew Couldridge
