Ireland Tour Of England 2020
With the delayed start to the summer season because of Covid-19, England have merged their red ball and white ball cricket schedule into one, picking two different squads to be in the quarantined bubbles accordingly.
While the Test side are coming to the end of their series against the West Indies national cricket team, the ODI team are preparing for a three-match ODI series which began on Thursday, July 30th.
Let’s break the series down.
England Cricket Team
This will be the first time Eoin Morgan and his cricketers have played an ODI on home soil since they lifted the World Cup in July last year. Although there are no crowds for this series, England’s cricket team will be out to show the world why they are the holders of that competition and currently number one in the ICC ODI rankings.
The last time we saw England in ODI action was in South Africa earlier in the year, a series they drew 1-1, and although some of their senior cricket stars are in the Test squad, they will hope to better that outcome here.
Ireland Cricket Team
Ireland missed out on the World Cup last year which will have been a great disappointment to them. They can kick their preparations towards the next Cricket World Cup into life in this series. As they are not a Test-playing nation, this is just the second ODI series they will have been involved in over the last 12 months.
The previous one saw them lose 3-0 to the West Indies in the Caribbean at the beginning of the year. They offered up some competitive cricket in that series though and will be out to do the same here at the very least.
Cricketers To Watch
With Ben Stokes, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer in the Test squad, there is the chance for the likes of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow to shine. Bairstow has an Indian Premier League stint ahead of him in September and will want to find form ahead of that, while Roy has a queue of players breathing down his neck for the opening spot. Another English cricket player to watch will be Saqib Mahmood, the Lancashire bowler who has a burgeoning reputation.
Ireland’s dangerman comes at the top of their order in Paul Stirling. The powerful big-hitting Middlesex batsman hits as clean a cricket ball as anyone in world cricket and on good pitches at the Ageas Bowl, he should enjoy himself. Further down the order, England know all about Kevin O’Brien, the cricketer who hit a blistering century against them in the 2011 World Cup in Bangalore, in one of the finest days of Irish cricket.
What To Expect From The Ireland Tour Of England
The three cricket matches will all take place at the Ageas Bowl and are all day-night matches, but conditions are unlikely to change too much from the day to the evening. The lights are true at the Southampton venue and the pitch is always good for batting.
The outcome of the series is going to be down to whether Ireland can put up enough runs against a second-string England attack. The England Lions thrashed Ireland by seven wickets with 15 overs left in a warm-up match, so it would be a huge surprise if they don’t win all three matches.