West Indies will be looking to cause a stir in their opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy, when they face Pakistan today at The Wanderers.

Floyd Reifer's inexperienced side are hoping to spring an early upset and cool some of the negative talk surrounding them, after the long-running dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) crippled the selectors.

Pakistan, the World Twenty20 champions a few months earlier, will be looking to take advantage of their severely depleted opponents and put an early stamp on the competition, but Reifer has warned that his side has other ideas.

"There is a nervous energy in the camp, but we are not scared of anyone," he said. "Once we get out on to the field and get going that nervous energy will transfer to positive energy."

Meetings

He added: "We have watched Pakistan a lot on the television and on video analysis and we have had several meetings where we have planned our strategy. We have been able to come up with some tactics, but they have never watched us play, so that's good for us."

The under-strength West Indies side has been preparing for this day for the last three weeks. It also inclu-ded four warm-up matches - two unofficial, two official - of which they were successful in only one.

"We have enjoyed the conditions and the pitches in South Africa and are looking to do well," he said.

"Improving our game is a serious matter to us and will take every opportunity to win," he continued.

"We know Pakistan is a very good team with some very good players, but we won't be playing names. We believe in our ability and we will be looking to play well in all three departments - batting, bowling and fielding."

Not highly favoured

West Indies have been drawn in Group A alongside the Pakistanis, defending champions Australia and current World No. 2 India. All their matches will be played at The Wanderers, on Saturday and on Wednesday, respectively.

Reifer acknowledged that his side is not highly favoured, but he noted that West Indies similarly were not favoured in the previous two editions of the competition - yet they won five years ago and reached the final three years ago when the Aussies stopped them.

"We are in the working stages," he said. "We are looking to rack up experience and take on the challenges set before us, whether that's against Pakistan, India or Australia. This is a major tournament and we want to do well."