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IRELAND VS NEW ZEALAND MATCH DETAILS:

Match: Ireland vs New Zealand, 1st T20I, New Zealand tour of Ireland, 2022.
Date and Time: July 18, 2022, Monday, 08:30 PM IST.
Venue: Civil Service Cricket Club, Belfast.

Ireland and New Zealand will now meet in the T20I series following their one-day series. The first T20I will be played on Monday, July 18, at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast.

New Zealand sealed the ODI series 3-0 after yet another thrilling win in the final game, where they came through by one run in the end. Martin Guptill scored a magnificent hundred at the top while Henry Nicholls and Glenn Phillips made vital contributions as well.

New Zealand posted a mammoth total of 360 for the loss of six wickets on the board. Ireland’s bowlers were expensive and did not have a great outing with the ball. One would have expected the Kiwis to register a comfortable win after putting up a daunting total on the board.

However, it wasn’t to be so as Ireland put up a spirited effort and almost pulled off the chase as well. Paul Stirling and Harry Tector slammed centuries but unfortunately, none of them could stay longer to see their side home.

The hosts slipped from 241/3 to 320/7 in the run-chase and made things difficult for themselves towards the end. Eventually, they folded up at 359/9 off the final delivery, falling agonizingly short of what would have been a record run-chase.

Matt Henry picked up four wickets while Mitchell Santner grabbed three as New Zealand managed to survive a scare and complete a 3-0 series whitewash.

Despite their defeat, Ireland was extremely competent throughout the series. Hence, we can only expect another cracking contest as the two sides now meet in the first T20I. The hosts will be eager to redeem themselves as New Zealand aim to keep up its winning run.

IRELAND REVIEWS

We saw some outstanding performances by the batting order of Ireland in the ODI series. Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Dockrell, and Curtis Campher were just good in the ODI series. Harry Tector scored two centuries in three matches of the ODI series. He is also part of the squad of Ireland for this T20 series and we are sure that his good form will help the Irish team in this series. Andrew Balbirnie is going to lead Ireland in this home series of three matches. He is the opening batter and has a good record in the shorter format of cricket. Gareth Delany, Paul Stirling, and Curtis Campher are the leading batters of Ireland.

Curtis Campher also performed well in the ODI series and had a century in three matches. He is also in good form and we are confirming that he will play the main role in this series. Stephen Doheny and Lorcan Tucker are wicket-keeper batters in the squad of Ireland. The bowling department of Ireland was also good in the series of ODI matches. They also had made some key changes in the squad of the T20 series. Mark Adair, George Dockrell, Joshua Little, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, and Craig Young will be taking care of the bowling department of Ireland.

NEW ZEALAND REVIEWS

New Zealand is a strong team in white-ball cricket but we don’t think that they were good in the ODI series even though they had a whitewash in the series of three ODI matches. They won three matches and two out of these were very close. New Zealand is also a strong team in the T20 format of cricket but they must avoid the mistakes they made in the ODI series. Mitchell Santner had been appointed as the captain of New Zealand. Martin Guptill will be leading the batting order of New Zealand with Mark Chapman, James Neesham, and Mitchell Santner. Martin Guptill was good in the ODI series and we can expect that he will also perform well in this series of three matches.

Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Dane Cleaver, and Glenn Phillips are wicketkeeper batters in the squad in New Zealand. We are sure that Glenn Phillips will get a chance to play this match. The bowling department of New Zealand was not impressive in the ODI series but we can expect that they will be good in the series of three T20 matches. Lockie Ferguson, Ben Sears, Ish Sodhi, and Blair Tickner will handle the bowling department of New Zealand with Jacob Duffy and Michael Rippon.

IRELAND T20 HISTORY

Ireland had played a total of 124 T20 matches where they won 53 while opposing teams had won 63 matches. Their 7 matches ended with no result and one match was tied.

NEW ZEALAND T20 HISTORY

New Zealand had played 160 T20 matches so far. They had won 80 matches and had lost 76 matches. Their 4 matches ended with no result.

IRELAND VS NEW ZEALAND T20 HISTORY AND STATS

New Zealand had played just one T20 match against Ireland back in 2009 where they won that match with a huge margin.

TOSS PREDICTION IN TODAY’S MATCH PREDICTION

The toss will play an important role in the decision of each match of this series. As per toss prediction, the team who will win the toss may elect to bat first.

PITCH REPORT AND CONDITIONS

The 1st match of New Zealand vs Ireland will be played at Civil Service Cricket Club, Belfast. The pitch at this stadium is good for batting but is one of the slower pitches in the Caribbean. Run-scoring is not going to be very easy and that could be a good thing for both teams. A total of 170 runs can be a par score

WEATHER REPORT FOR THIS MATCH

The weather forecast for Belfast on match day is not very good. Rain is predicted for most of the day and so it looks like we are going to struggle to get a game in.

IRELAND VS NEW ZEALAND, 1ST T20 PROBABLE PLAYING XI

IRELAND:

Andrew Balbirnie (c), Paul Stirling, Andy McBrine, Mark Adair, Harry Tector, George Dockrell, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Barry McCarthy, Curtis Campher, Craig Young, Joshua Little

NEW ZEALAND:

Martin Guptill, Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips (wk), Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner (c), Blair Tickner, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Ben Sears

PROBABLE THE BEST BATTER OF THE MATCH

MARTIN GUPTILL:

Senior opener Martin Guptill scored a match-winning 115 in the third ODI. While he might not be scoring consistently for a while, it is to be noted that Guptill is currently the 11th-ranked batter in T20Is having amassed 3,299 runs from 112 matches. He has a very good opportunity to surpass Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and become the top run-getter in this format. He just needs 81 runs to do it. The Irish bowlers must chalk out a plan to get rid of him early on.

PROBABLE THE BEST BOWLER OF THE MATCH

MARK ADAIR:

Mark Adair would be expected to do some damage with the ball in hand. The tall pacer has so far made 41 T20I appearances for Ireland at the highest level and registered 62 scalps to his name at an economy of 7.16. Adair can be very lethal and has the potential of dismantling any batting line-up. With an impressive record in the shortest format, the New Zealand batters would be hoping to resort to a cautious approach against Mark Adair in the first T20I.

FAVORITE TEAM IN TODAY’S MATCH PREDICTION

According to our match prediction, New Zealand is the favorite team to win this match. The reasons why New Zealand is a favorite team in this match, are mentioned below:

• New Zealand is overall a strong team when we compare it with Ireland
• The bowling department of Ireland is back in the good form
• The batting order of New Zealand is in good form
• New Zealand also has a strong bowling department

WINNING CHANCES OF TODAY’S MATCH FOR BOTH TEAMS

New Zealand is overall a strong team and they have a lot of experience when it comes to the T20 format of cricket, so the winning chances of today’s match for New Zealand have been increased. The equation of winning chances of both teams for today’s match is mentioned as under.

New Zealand has a 60% chance to win this match.

Ireland has a 40% chance to win this match.