"It's going to be a belter of a pitch throughout the day so probably come out first and there will be a bit of swing in this humidity," Porterfield said at the toss.
The Irish made just one change to their playing side from their match against West Indies, bringing in pace bowler Alex Cusack for off-spinner Andy McBrine on the seamer-friendly conditions at the Gabba.
Off-spinner Nasir Aziz also made way for left-arm seamer Manjula Guruge in the only change in the Emirati team.
UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir said he would have batted first if he had won the toss.
"We wanted to bat first and I think it's a good toss to lose. We need to bat 50 overs, put the runs on the board and put them under pressure," the 43-year-old Tauqir said.
"It's hot and humid conditions and it's good to be batting."
Teams:
Ireland: William Porterfield (captain), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Niall O'Brien, Andrew Balbirnie, Gary Wilson, Kevin O'Brien, John Mooney, Alex Cusack, Max Sorensen, George Dockrell
UAE: Amjad Ali, Andri Berenger, Krishna Chandran, Khurram Khan, Swapnil Patil, Shaiman Anwar, Rohan Mustafa, Amjad Javed, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Tauqir (captain), Manjula Guruge
(Writing by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Greg Stutchbury)
Share
