These two sides are unlikely to be around at the business end of proceedings but they should put on a good show for the neutrals and give underdog backers a good run for their money, says Andrew Hughes.
Team News
Bangladesh didn’t perform too badly against India on Saturday and are unlikely to make too many changes, though they may bring in spinner Abdur Razzak. Ireland have to decide whether to give a chance to promising 18 year old batsman Paul Stirling and will also have to choose who from their battery of seamers will miss out, and it may well end up being veteran Trent Johnston.
Conditions
An afternoon game should be a little warmer for the Bangladeshis who were shivering on Saturday night. During last year’s Twenty20 Cup games, the par score at Trent Bridge was 150 with anything in the 160s hard to get. But three teams passed 180 here in the warm up games, as did India at the weekend.
Match Odds
Both teams will see this game as their best chance of a win. Bangladesh’s young side are improving all the time and Twenty20 is a format that can suit their blend of mercurial batsmen and tricky spinners. Ireland, meanwhile, are the best of the associate members in this tournament. Their batting, weakened by the departure of Eoin Morgan, depends for impetus largely on the big hitting O’Brien brothers Niall and Kevin.
Their bowling is seam-dominated but tidy and supplemented by the left arm spin of Kyle McCallan and they fling themselves around wholeheartedly in the field. Bangladesh are [1.5] favourites but that is just too short a price to take about such a young and inconsistent team and Ireland look worth a punt at [3.5]
Top Batsman
Niall O’Brien hit a confident 62 against South Africa in their final warm up game and should be worth a look as top Irish batsman at [4.5] or higher. For Bangladesh, Junaid Siddique was in powerful form against India and should be backed at [4.0] or better.
Featured Market
Bangladesh’s opening duo of Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique tend to take a few risks early on and could be vulnerable. You might want to consider backing Ireland’s comparatively steady openers to have the highest opening partnership at [2.0] or better.
Andrew Hughes says: Back Ireland to beat Bangladesh @ [3.5]
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Tags: business, south-africa, tour
