The first round of the T20 World Cup 2021 concludes on Friday with another double header of action as the tournament rolls into Sharjah for the first time. The day begins with a huge clash in Group A between Ireland and Namibia.
With both sides having beaten Papua New Guinea and losing to Bangladesh the equation for the two of them is pretty simple here. The winner will move into the Super 12 stage and the loser will exit the competition. It is knockout cricket.
Ireland
It looked like Ireland were going to power their way into the knockout stages when they cruised past the Netherlands in their opening match of the tournament but they came up a long way short against Sri Lanka in their second game and now they have to win here or else they will be going home before the Super 12, which I would suggest would be a serious underachievement were it to happen. The pressure is all on them in this match for sure.
Ireland have to make sure they have parked that last match before they step out onto the field here. They could do with some runs from their top order. Kevin O’Brien hasn’t got going in the tournament yet and Paul Stirling looks out of touch. Ireland are performing well with the ball so if their batsmen do come to the party then you’ve got to think Ireland have enough within their ranks to make it through to the Super 12s.
Namibia
To be fair to Namibia, they looked out of their depth in their opening match but they are not the first associate side to come unstuck against the wily mystery of a Sri Lanka bowling attack and probably won’t be the last. They showed how good a team they can be against the Netherlands though when in what was already a knockout match for them, they head themselves together and chased a pretty sizeable score down, which will give them plenty of confidence moving forward.
Namibia have been competitive with the ball in this tournament and if they can restrict this Ireland side here then we know they have the talent with the bat to get the job done. They have shown they can handle the pressure of fighting for their tournament life and while there is pressure on them because they will want to stay in the competition, there isn’t as much on them as there is on Ireland as Namibia aren’t quite as established as their opponents here.
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Key Men
Josh Little is having a good tournament for Ireland and his four overs could be crucial here. Ireland could do with early wickets in this match in order to have the ball relatively new when the powerful middle order come into bat.
Wanindu Hasaranga came in at five in the previous match and smacked the Ireland bowling attack to all parts and David Wiese will be eyeing up something similar in this match. He has faced the majority of this Ireland attack in his county days and he’ll bowl four overs as well. If Wiese goes well Namibia are a chance here.
Betting
I’ve a feeling that Namibia might cause an upset here but I think the better value comes in a couple of bets involving David Wiese because it is hard to see them winning this match if he doesn’t put a decent display in. Wiese top scored in the match against the Dutch last time out and slapped 30 in the last warm up game against Scotland but he’ll play the exact same role as Wanindu Hasaranga did against the Irish last time out. Wiese is a clean hitter of the cricket ball and is likely to stay away from the tougher Ireland bowlers so the 6/1 he top scores again carries plenty of appeal.
You can also get 12/1 on Wiese being the man of the match which brings him being touched off by one batter but getting the nod because of his bowling into play. Ireland have struggled with the bat in this tournament so it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world if Wiese takes wickets on this pitch. Neither of the Ireland openers have got going so there is wicket taking potential in Wiese. Backing the Sussex man to top score for Namibia and man of the match could see us land both bets but offers some backup should one of the other ‘Bomb Squad’ go better than him with the bat. At 6/1 and 12/1 I like small plays on both bets as a way of backing Namibia to win rather than the match betting.
Tips
Back D.Wiese Top Namibia Batter for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back D.Wiese Man of the Match for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Coral
Back him here:
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