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Twenty20 World Cup Betting: England v Ireland

Twenty20 RSS / / 02 May 2010 /

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Twenty20

"...this is the best collection of Twenty20 players that England have yet put out and they should have more than enough firepower to account for an Irish team that looks low on confidence."

A dire batting performance by the Irish in their opening game leaves them with just one chance to make the Super Eights. Can they secure the win they need at the expense of their cricketing neighbours? Andrew Hughes looks ahead to the concluding fixture in Group D.

Venue and Conditions

Batting is hard work at the Providence Stadium. A painfully slow surface and some of the biggest boundaries in the Caribbean have combined to produce some modest totals, with no team yet able to pass 140 and a runs per over average of just 6.27.

Team News

England may be tempted to find a way to include Ravi Bopara. Initially included as Kevin Pietersen's understudy, he impressed in the warm-up games, is an established IPL star and his slow-medium bowling is well-suited to this kind of surface.

Ireland may want to shake things up a bit after their poor show against the West Indies. The more spinners you can bring on this surface the better and so it could be that Gary Kidd and Andrew White will be drafted in.

Match Odds

Confidently predicting that the favourites will win a Twenty20 game should never be done lightly in what is a volatile format, particularly when the favourites concerned are England and their opponents are a team renowned for their giant-killing prowess who would love to get one over on their near neighbours.

Nevertheless, this is the best collection of Twenty20 players that England have yet put out and they should have more than enough firepower to account for an Irish team that looks low on confidence. You won't get rich taking these sorts of odds unless you are Harry Findlay, but [1.11] about an England win looks about right.

Top Batsman

Kevin Pietersen could be forgiven for wanting to be elsewhere and it makes sense to look for other candidates. Eoin Morgan is just about the best Twenty20 player in the squad and he should be available at [4.5] or so.

None of the Irish batsmen acquitted themselves particularly well on Friday, but the dangerous and combative Niall O'Brien is probably the pick of them and should be backed at [4.5] or better.

Featured Market

At the time of writing there have only been 14 sixes in two games here and given the conditions and the big boundaries, it makes sense to back '9 and under' in the Total Sixes market at [2.5] or better.

Trivia

The opening partnership of Craig Kieswetter and Michael Lumb will be the fifteenth different pairing employed by England in twenty-eight Twenty20 internationals.


Andrew Hughes says: Back Eoin Morgan to top score for England at [4.5] or better.

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