Twenty20 World Cup / Andrew Hughes / 13 June 2009 / Leave a comment

Sri Lanka are emerging as serious contenders for the World Cup and that spells danger for the Irish, says Andrew Hughes.

Team News

Ireland dropped big fast bowler Boyd Rankin and batsman Andrew White for their game against New Zealand, but the changes didn't pay off and both could be in line for a recall. Key batsman Niall O'Brien is almost certain to be fit. Sri Lanka are unlikely to want to tinker with their line-up too much, though they may want to give Farveez Maharoof a game ahead of the bigger tests to come.

Conditions

Lord's has been the bounciest of the three pitches employed in this tournament so far and India struggled to cope with the early life in the pitch on Friday night. The forecast is for a cloudless, sunny day.

Match Odds

It's been a satisfactory journey for Ireland, reproducing their 2007 World Cup success of a victory over a full ICC member and reaching the second phase. But you can't help feeling that they had half a chance against a weakened New Zealand last time and they weren't up to it. Their bowling in the first six overs was poor and their batting lacked punch. Sri Lanka are creeping up on the outside as real contenders for this competition. Their only weakness was supposed to be a lack of firepower outside the top four, but that hasn't seemed to slow them down yet and their bowling is arguably the best in the competition. It is hard to foresee an upset here and Sri Lanka are deservedly favourites on [1.06] with Ireland as long as [15.5]

Top Batsman

Tillakaratne Dilshan (pictured) is in fine form at the moment and should be backed at [3.5] or better for top Sri Lankan batsman. For Ireland, it is a fairly open contest, but with changes likely in the batting line-up, it is best to stick with the best batsman in the team, Niall O'Brien at [4.0] or higher.

Featured Market

Ireland's running between the wickets was embarrassing in their game against New Zealand and you should look to back 'Over 1.5 run outs' in the Total Match Run Outs market at [2.0] or better.