When Ireland kick off their World Cup Qualifier next month in Zimbabwe, there will be 1925 caps worth of experience for new head coach Graham Ford to draw on.

10 of the 15-man panel were members of the Ireland squad that came so close to qualifying for the last eight of the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, while Ed Joyce is a veteran of the 2005 ICC Trophy team that secured qualification for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

Durham's Stuart Poynter will miss the tournament through paternity leave, so Northern Knights' batsman James Shannon returns to the squad following a prolific domestic summer, while North West Warriors' spinner Andrew McBrine is selected ahead of Australia-born Knights' leg-spinner Jacob Mulder.

Ford, who replaced John Bracewell as Ireland head coach in January, makes no apologies for opting for a squad that contains eight players over the age of 30, and eight players with over a century of caps for their country.

“Experience is such a vital commodity, especially in high-pressure situations which this tournament will certainly have,” the South African said.

“It’s going to be a very cut-throat competition with just two places on offer, but we have the ability to make it to a fourth final if we play to our potential.”

Ireland will face the West Indies, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea and the winners of World Cricket League Division 2 in Group A of the tournament, which begins on 4 March.

The top three teams in each of the two pools progress to the Super Six stage of the competition, with the leading two teams from the Super Sixes qualifying for the 10-team 2019 World Cup in England and Wales.

Ireland's success at the last three World Cups has not been uniformly welcomed across the cricket world, with their 2007 victory over Pakistan proving crucial in the ICC's decision to change the tournament's format for 2019.

Ireland's historic win at Sabina Park, coupled with Bangladesh's shock victory over India, saw television viewing figures for the tournament collapse following the group-stage exits of the Asian cricketing powerhouses.

However, the new 10-team round-robin format in 2019 guarantees a lucrative meeting between India and Pakistan, so Ireland's possible qualification for next year's tournament represents far less of a threat to the ICC's balance sheet.

The England and Wales Cricket Board were impressed by Ireland's support in last May's historic inaugural one-day international between the side's at Lords, with Irish supporters making up over a quarter of the near-capacity 24,000 crowd.

They believe Ireland supporters will travel in their thousands across the Irish Sea if their team qualify for their fourth successive World Cup, and help them achieve their target of beating the 1,016,420 tickets sold in 2015.

“We proved how good our fan base is in the two games against England at Bristol and at Lord's last May,” Cricket Ireland high-performance manager Richard Holdsworth said.

“It would be magnificent for us to qualify – I think every game barring the match against England would feel like a home fixture for us.”

Ireland will receive a US $1m [€800,000] “preparation fee” if they qualify for the tournament, but Holdsworth says the real prize is the opportunity to play nine high-profile matches in peak TV viewing times.

“It would be immense for the profile of the sport,” he continued. “If Sky Sports win the rights to show the tournament, it will be on television all over Ireland, and in our time zone as well.

“You can't put a price on what it would do for cricket in Ireland.”

Ireland squad for the 2018 ICC World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe:

William Porterfield (Formby/Warriors), Andrew Balbirnie (Pembroke/Lightning), Peter Chase (Malahide/Lightning), George Dockrell (Leinster/Lightning), Ed Joyce (Merrion/Lightning), Andrew McBrine (Donemana/Warriors), Barry McCarthy (Durham), Tim Murtagh (Middlesex), Kevin O’Brien (Railway Union/Lightning), Niall O’Brien (Nantwich/Warriors), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire), James Shannon (Instonians/Knights), Simi Singh (YMCA/Lightning), Paul Stirling (Middlesex), Gary Wilson (Derbyshire).

ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers 2018

Group A: West Indies, Ireland, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, ICC World Cricket League Division 2 winners.

Group B: Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Scotland, Hong Kong, ICC World Cricket League Division 2 runners-up.