The second part of the double header of action in the T20 World Cup on Monday sees the last two teams to enter the tournament in the first round get their campaigns underway when Zimbabwe take on Scotland in Hobart.
These two teams will know West Indies are the established team in the group so in order to make qualifying smoother over the remaining two matches this is a game they can’t afford to lose. That should make for a competitive affair.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe failed to qualify for this tournament last year so there is a case to be made that they are already one up having gone and made it through the qualifying section to take their place in the field this time around. That could make them a very dangerous prospect in this tournament as they might feel they have little to lose from here on in. We know they can compete in these conditions because it is only a month or so ago they were very competitive in an ODI series with Australia in this part of the world.
The key thing for Zimbabwe is to make sure they don’t get stuck with the bat at the start of their innings. They were guilty of doing that in the aforementioned ODI series, although they were up against a world class bowling attack to be fair to them. The other thing they need to do is handle the pressure. These first round group games tend to be pressure cookers for everyone involved and usually it is the team who holds their nerve the best who win not necessarily the best team.
Ireland
While Zimbabwe might be coming here with nothing to prove and everything to gain, the same can’t really be said for Ireland. They went to the T20 World Cup last year and completely bombed out when they were fancied to at least come out of their initial group. They deserve credit for going back to the qualifying competition and getting back here again and now they will be determined to show that they are a whole lot better than what they showed a year ago.
Ireland have kept good company this year. They hosted India, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan in T20 series in the summer. They lost more than they won but you improve your game playing against better sides. The issue in those series was that their death bowling was terrible and they will have needed to rectify that before they go into this tournament. Since the summer Paul Stirling has lost all form and one or two might be undercooked going in here.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this series! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Team News
Craig Ervine didn’t play in that ODI series in Australia earlier in the summer but he will be in the side for this series and will skipper the team. Zimbabwe need to choose which of their seamers to pick in this opening game.
Ireland will be without Craig Young for the entirety of this tournament. Graham Hume was called up in time to feature in this match if he is selected but Ireland might choose to go with the extra batter to negate some poor form among their batters.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets for this match. The first one is for Zimbabwe to hit over 12.5 fours. I will take that over the boundaries or the sixes because they aren’t known as a big hitting side so might do most of their boundary hitting along the floor. I’m not convinced that the boundaries here in Hobart will be the longest. Blundstone Arena hosts some Super 12 matches later in the tournament and I’d imagine they’ll keep the middle of the square fresh for those matches so we might be on the edge of the square here which will open up a short square boundary to go with the attainable straight ones. The other reason I like this is Zimbabwe will either way to put a daunting score on the board or boost their run rate if they are chasing a nothing score so the over will do me.
I’ll also take a stab at Mark Adair top scoring for Ireland. In the T20 series with New Zealand in the Irish summer, Adair hit two 20s and a 30 odd which were in the top two scores for his side on each occasion, top scoring in the second of those matches so even though he will bat at eight he can still smack a long ball and close in on a top score. We saw the second match on Sunday have a low top score and if similar happens here then Adair might be in business. Since the summer the form of Paul Stirling has completely left him and not many Irish batters have played much cricket in the last couple of months or so. It is a long shot but at 80/1 I’m happy to see how this innings plays out.
Tips
Back Zimbabwe – Over 12.5 fours for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with BetVictor
Back them here:
Back M.Adair Top Ireland Batter for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Betfred
