Ireland were one of the disappointments of the T20 World Cup last year. They bombed out in a first round group where they looked good things to qualify but in truth never really threatened to make it through. To their credit they bounced back to win their way through the qualifier to get into the Australian event and now they are here they will be looking to show everyone that they are better than they displayed a year ago.
Profile
Captain: Andrew Balbirnie
Previous Best: Super 8 2009
Best Odds: 500/1 Betfred
Key Players: Paul Stirling & Josh Little
Group B Fixtures
Oct 17 vs Zimbabwe at Hobart
Oct 19 vs Scotland at Hobart
Oct 21 vs West Indies at Hobart
Squad
Andrew Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Fionn Hand, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Graham Hume.
Team Guide
Ireland are no strangers to delivering the goods on the big stage, although most of their best results have come in the 50 over World Cup rather than this version of it. Ireland spent their entire summer playing white ball cricket and took on some very established sides in the T20 discipline so they will be battle hardened heading to Australia. The problem was that they took more beatings than they dished out so what that would have done to their confidence we wait and see.
Ireland didn’t go well in the one warm up match they managed to play ahead of the tournament and one or two of their big players look to have lost their form at the wrong time. Ireland have had an issue with the ball at the death part of the innings and if they haven’t addressed that ahead of the competition then they could be vulnerable in all three matches. They might need to chase in games and hope their batting delivers the goods.
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Betting
There are two bets that I like for Ireland in this tournament. The first is the 5/1 on them not to win a match. I don’t think they are certainties to beat Zimbabwe in their opening game and if the weather forecast is to be believed then Scotland might effectively be 5/1 to beat Ireland in the second one. Ireland’s death bowling is a real concern of mine. I wouldn’t be quite so concerned if I was convinced enough batters were in form to overcome it but they’re not so if Ireland don’t handle the back end of the innings well then the 5/1 on them not to win a match could quickly see a nightmare become a reality.
In terms of the player bets, the news that Craig Young will miss the tournament makes Josh Little a leading contender for me. We saw at The Hundred just how good he can be as despite only playing just over half of the tournament he was the fourth leading wicket taker with 13 in five matches. He was one off being the highest wicket taker in that event. Only two men have more wickets than him in international T20 cricket in 2022 and the pacer has 51 T20I wickets in total. Little is the standout Irish bowler and I’ll back him to show that here.
Tips
Back Ireland not to win a match for a 1/10 stake at 6.00 with Bet365
Back J.Little Top Ireland Tournament Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 3.25 with Coral
