Match Details
Date: 26 October 2022
Time: 09:30 AM IST
Venue: Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Ball-by-ball commentary: SportsTiger App
Preview
England and Ireland will lock horns in the 20th match of the T20 World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Wednesday (26 October). While England are coming on the back of a comprehensive win over Afghanistan, Ireland lost to Sri Lanka in their Super 12 opener. The Andrew Balbirnie-led team just did not look prepared for the bigger challenge. They now have mighty England to face and beat them in order to stay alive in the competition. It will be a tough challenge for Ireland.
Pitch Report
The MCG pitch is considered to be one of the most competitive surfaces in the world. Everyone gets to play their roles at some point of time in the match. While pacers get assistance early in the innings, batters can play their strokes freely in the latter half. Meanwhile, spinners can make use of bigger boundaries.
Team Analysis
England
England were clinical with the ball against Afghanistan but not so dominant with the bat. Sam Curran stole the show with his five-wicket haul. The left-arm quick was just too good for the opposition. Others like Mark Wood and Ben Stokes also did well to restrict Afghanistan to only 112. But when it came to the chase, the English batters did not look too comfortable. It took them 18.1 overs to chase 113 and they also lost five wickets. Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, and Dawid Malan just could not get going. They played with a below-par strike rate and could not bat deep either. However, Liam Livingstone packed a punch scoring 29 off 21. Although Ireland aren’t that tough a team, they are not minnows either.
SportsTiger Playing XI of England
Jos Buttler, Alex Hales, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Liam Livingstone, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
Ireland
Ireland did a terrific job to beat two-time champions West Indies in their final group game of Round 1 and enter the Super 12s. However, they could not bring the same energy in their first game of the Super 12 group stage. Ireland were thrashed by Sri Lanka. While their batters had no answers to the efforts of Sri Lankan bowlers, Irish bowlers could not stop Kusal Mendis from snatching the game from their hands. Now, if the Andrew Balbirnie-led team wants to stay alive in the competition, they will have to find a way to outfox England, which won’t be easy at all.
SportsTiger Playing XI of Ireland
Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie, Lorcan Tucker, Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adir, Simi Singh, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little
Match Prediction
Conclusion
Ireland might have defeated West Indies, but England is a tough team to beat in any format of the game. The Jos Buttler-led team has all the required resources to outdo any team on a given day. So, they are the clear favourites to win the match.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the author’s point of view. They neither reflect the opinion of SportsTiger nor advise anyone to make any prediction based on this. SportsTiger does not assume any responsibility and liability for the same.