Pick's stint of just over a year comes to an end after the four-day match in Leicester, with the former Nottinghamshire seam bowler set to resume his position as England Under-19 coach.

Canada head into the final on the back of a creditable World Cup campaign in the Caribbean. Although they lost their three matches, they did post the highest two totals by an Associate nation - 228 against England and 249 versus New Zealand.

Their achievements were outshone somewhat by Ireland, however, who qualified for the Super Eight by tying with Zimbabwe and beating Pakistan before also getting the better of Bangladesh.

The Irish, now led by former West Indies all-rounder Phil Simmons, reached the final by hammering United Arab Emirates by an innings and 170 runs in Abu Dhabi in February.

This week's final looks set to be a closely-contested affair with honours even over the last two matches. Canada triumphed in the ICC World Cricket League Division 1 in Nairobi in February with the Irish avenging that defeat in a World Cup warm-up in Trinidad the following month.

Much of the talk in the build-up has focused on the men at the helm, with Ireland eager to retain the trophy for former coach Adrian Birrell - who led them to the final before stepping down after the World Cup - and Canada wanting to send Pick off with a win.

But the ex-England A international insists it's all about the players.

"We've had a good year," he said. "Cricket has progressed on the field in Canada. The guys have become more consistent and performed better.

"It would crown what's been a good year and give them a launchpad as they look forward to planning towards the next qualification in 2009.

"It is very much a media thing that (the Irish) are looking to win it for Adrian and my players are going to want to win it for me.

"Deep down I don't think they are. They're going to want to win it for themselves.

"They're the guys that put all the commitment in and give up all their time free of charge. Myself and Phil and Adrian are paid to do a job.

"These guys are the ones who have made all the sacrifices and it'll be a deserved win for them if they can pull it off.

"We performed fairly well at the World Cup, we were satisfied with the results we achieved there. To win the Intercontinental Cup would be a good effort, there are some good teams in it.

"Four-day cricket is a good test of consistency more than anything - one good session doesn't necessarily win you a four-day game.

"Having had a reasonable World Cup, it'd be nice to win this so then both forms of the game are looking strong."

Canada have no injury worries for the encounter, with batsman Ian Billcliff - who was unable to get time off work - the only absentee.

"He's a good player - a steady batter, somebody in a four-day game who is quite happy to go in and bat all day," said Pick of Billcliff, the third highest run-scorer at the 2005 ICC Trophy.

"He doesn't get bored of batting which is good, he's somebody a team can build an innings around. It is a loss not having him here but that's one of the disadvantages of Associate cricket, you can never necessarily get your best team on the field. It's similar for them as well.

"That's where hopefully having a little bit of strength in depth comes in. Rather than look on the negative side, it's a chance for someone else to play and impress.

"Other than Billcliff everybody's fit and raring."

Pick is hoping his side can take advantage of Ireland having spent almost a month longer in the Caribbean.

He said: "I'm sure they will be tired. I know from watching our guys when we're away for a month, just living and breathing cricket does take its toll.

"I'm sure the same has happened with the Irish guys but they'll have been back home for a while now and probably got their celebrations out of the way.

"I'd imagine the new coach has got them down to thinking more about what's going to happen over the next couple of years rather than what's happened over the last couple of months.

"I'm sure they'll be just as keen to put one over on us as we are to do the opposite."