Bangladesh, Ireland are evenly matched: Bangladesh tour of Ireland, 1st ODI
The Match
Bangladesh play Ireland in the first ODI of the two game series before the Asian side heads ahead to play Scotland and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Netherlands-c753 in one game each.
It will be a clash to remember, and one gets the feeling that the game could go right down to the wire. The reasons are rather simple. For one, Bangladesh goes into this series with a lot of confidence, after having upset the English applecart in the second ODI of the recent, three-game series.
Fortunately, Bangladesh did not rely on their best batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tamim-Iqbal-c2640 for their win, and what would warm the cockles of the hearts of their supporters even more is that it was a team effort to the hilt.
However, what is even more exciting is the fact that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 to win the ICC World Cricket League Division One tournament.
The Pitch:
The game will be played at Civil Service Cricket Club, Stormont in Belfast and the game can be expected to be marred by rains and bad weather. This could be a spoiler, but the other way to look at it is that if the rains do not come down, then the weather would be ideal for swing bowling and that could give us a close, low-scoring game!
Ireland:
The in-form team amongst the Associates, they are easily the number 11th ranked side in the cricket world. And by a distance. As mentioned earlier, their wins over the rest of the sides were convincing and that will mean that the game against Bangladesh could be closely fought.
Ireland’s biggest plus is that the matches will be played in Ireland itself and the weather will not be conducive for Bangladesh’s left-arm spinners. The visitors do possess a couple of good seam bowlers, but with the threat of their spinners negated, the bowling will begin on an even keel.
The Playing Eleven:
Stirling, Balbirne, Cusack, O’Brien, White, Mooney, Poynter, Jones, McCann, Johnston, Dockrell
Players to watch out for:
One gets the sense that the opening bowling duo of captain Trent Johnston and Kevin O’Brien will be the ones who will need to do most of the damage for the side and will be the players to watch out for.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747:
The confidence and the boost after beating England aside, the Bangladeshis will have a task on their hand. They can ill-afford to be complacent because the Irish side is the one waiting for a prey; and it will be wins against sides like Bangladesh that will fast-track their way into the Test match status.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mashrafe-Mortaza-c1917 with the ball in order to ensure that the momentum is not lost.
The Playing Eleven:
Iqbal, Kayes, Siddique, Ashraful, Jaharul, Shakib, Mushfiqur, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Razzaq-c84421, Shaiful, Hossain.
Players to watch out for:
Bangladesh will heavily rely on their openers to deliver the goods with the bat, but, for that to happen, it will highly advisable for the opening pair, Iqbal and Kayes, to try and seen off the first few overs, instead of going for the kill from the word go.
Team and Player Odds:
Bangladesh goes into the game as favourites with Paddy Power offering 3/10, but my sense is that with the form of Ireland (9/4 at Paddy Power) and the home conditions, there is not much to choose from between the two sides.
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