The second match in the Netherlands Tri-Nations T20 series sees the hosts Netherlands back in action when they take on Ireland, who make their debut in the competition on Sunday having watched proceedings on Saturday.
The Netherlands won the first game of the tournament so they will be sitting nicely if they win this one. Ireland will be looking to get off to a winning start although the overall aim of both sides will be to continue their preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Netherlands
I would imagine the Netherlands will be very happy with their performance in the opening game and if they can win this one then they would really be in the position where they can try out some combinations with a look ahead to the World Cup in a couple of weeks. The impressive thing about the Dutch was how they got better the longer the match went on against Scotland and in the end they ran out very comfortable winners.
There are things that they need to work on, but you would expect that with this squad only really being together for the first time in that match. They will be looking to get off to quicker starts with the bat moving forward but you would imagine that will happen when players get their timing. They have Bas de Leede to come in at some point too and when he arrives he will add a stronger dynamic with the bat and the ball, so the Dutch should be feeling good about themselves.
Ireland
Ireland make their bow in the tournament in this match but they have been active in T20 cricket recently having only just concluded a series with Pakistan so you would imagine they will be able to hit the ground running here, although they will have to adjust to the slightly slower conditions. The fact that Ireland have played three competitive matches against a top opponent should have them in excellent shape to look to dominate this match.
We saw in that series that Ireland are very good with the bat. They have the right mix of glue and free power at the top of the innings and a couple of clever middle order players with some lower order hitters to bolster a score if given the chance. What we also saw though was a bowling attack which lacks a bit of variation and the longer the innings goes on the further it can go around the park. That might change when Josh Little turns up but he isn’t due to be available for this match.
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Team News
It remains to be seen whether Bas de Leede is around for this match having missed the first one. If he isn’t and the Netherlands would like to make changes for this game then they could bring Fred Klaassen into their ranks.
Ireland are still expected to be without Josh Little for their opening match of the competition so we could see a similar side to the one which started the series against Pakistan with Paul Stirling recalled after missing the third game of that series.
Betting
The run line for this match was always going to interest me given the way that Ireland play their cricket in this format and I’m a little surprised that it is as low as 315.5 with that in mind. This would have been covered comfortably had Scotland not fallen apart late in the innings on Saturday but Ireland are a much better batting unit than Scotland and I think they can make up the shortfall here. There are more runs to come from the Netherlands too.
The one thing we did see on Saturday was that the boundaries here are perfectly accessible and Ireland being warmed up to T20 cricket should see them pepper them a lot more than Scotland were able to. This feels like a more competitive match than Saturday with two sides who have plenty of runs in them. Netherlands batters probably needed the run out and should come on for the run and with Ireland’s bowlers there for the taking I expect to see more than 315.5 runs here.
Tips
Back Over 315.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
