It has already been an amazing summer so far for English cricket and the Test match action is yet to begin. That all changes on Wednesday when England warm up for The Ashes when they take on Ireland in a one-off four day Test match at Lord’s.
This is a huge week for Irish cricket, a sign of how far they have come in the game, while England need to ensure they do not suffer any slip ups which can give the Australians confidence ahead of the big series.
England
You could forgive the England players for being a little rusty in this format, or at least the ones who have been on World Cup duty in recent times. They won’t have played against the red ball much this summer, if at all, which means it is well over six months since they last took on the red ball. That will naturally need them to blow away a few cobwebs. Those who weren’t involved in the World Cup will be used to the longer form of the game and might be required to carry the others for once.
This is a little bit of a mix and match England side, with a couple of key players in that World Cup win rightly getting some time off. It is also the chance for many others to ram home their places in the side for Edgbaston next week. The main thing is that as a team England need to perform on a ground where their record could be better it has to be said. They also don’t have a great record against minnows either to be fair.
Ireland
The Irish have absolutely nothing to lose in this match and would be as well to treat it that way rather than get caught up in the size of the occasion, even allowing for the fact that it is pretty big to be fair. They showed earlier in the summer that they can compete with England, and even though that was in the 50 over sphere, cricket is ultimately cricket at the end of the day. Ireland will need to be at their very best for each of the four days to come out on top here you fancy.
If Ireland are going to win this match then they are going to have to bowl well and threaten for long periods. If they have a session off with the ball this England side will get away from them. I don’t see any reason why Ireland won’t be competitive with the bat, but these lower sides struggle to take 20 wickets. That is the task in hand for the Irish in this one.
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Team News
England have confirmed that Jason Roy and Olly Stone will make their Test match debuts while Joe Denly is at three. Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes all sit the match out while James Anderson is injured.
Tim Murtagh, Andy Balbirnie and Paul Stirling will face England on the ground that is their current home or their former one. Mark Adair could make his debut in this format of the game while Craig Young could also get a start.
Betting
I don’t think this is a match to go too mad on but there is one I like for a little bit of interest in it and it comes in the form of the player performances. I think England will win the match but the comedown from a couple of weeks ago and their indifferent record against lesser sides makes me swerve them and just take the performance, which belongs to Jonny Bairstow.
The line is 115.5 which actually isn’t as high as you would think these days with him batting at five and likely to get plenty of points behind the wicket with catches and perhaps even the odd stumping in the dry conditions. Bairstow can obviously bat at Lord’s, as we have seen in the past and he should dominate this attack. I’m happy to take the over here.
Tips
Back J.Bairstow’s Performance – Over 115.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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