PITCH AND CONDITIONS

Some early-morning fog will have long cleared by the time this gets underway in what should be hot, sunny, dry and clear conditions in the afternoon in Abu Dhabi.

The Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium has produced some good even battles between bat and ball so far, and it is difficult to say either batsmen or bowlers have come out clearly on top. The run rates remain high, but wickets have fallen regularly too.

Ireland

  • Lorcan Tucker and Stuart Thompson came into the team last time out, as Ireland bounced back from their defeat to the UAE Shane Getkate and Andy Balbirnie the men to make way.
  • Gareth Delany was pushed up the batting order to cover Balbirnie’s absence and promptly smashed a match-winning 89* from 49 balls, so Ireland could stick with the same line-up and batting order.
  • Ireland started with a comfortable win against Hong Kong, with Andy Balbirnie (70*) and Paul Stirling (62) making light work of a chase of 154 to win the Irish claiming an eight-wicket win in just 17.2 overs.
  • Next up, however, 72 from Stirling could not prevent Ireland from folding for just 125 against the UAE.
  • The hosts needed just 17 overs to seal a five-wicket win. That left Ireland needing to bounce back against Oman, but Gareth Delany’s 89* and two wickets ensured they did just that Oman posting 148/9 in reply to Ireland’s 183/3.

PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF Ireland

Paul Stirling, Kevin O’Brien, Gareth Delany, Harry Tector, Gary Wilson (c, wk), Mark Adair, Lorcan Tucker, Stuart Thompson, George Dockrell, Boyd Rankin, David Delany

Canada

  • Canada has stuck with the same XI for both matches so far and they could well stick with the same team again after two comfortable victories in their opening two games.
  • Canada has won both matches so far, with Nitish Kumar and Dillon Heyliger starring in both victories.
  • Against Jersey, Kumar smashed 83 from 36 balls as Canada posted 176/5, and Heyliger and Jeremy Gordon took three wickets apiece to bowl Jersey out for 123.
  • In their second game, Kumar’s 57* from 36 balls helped them to 159/7, and Heyliger took another three wickets as Nigeria posted just 109/8 in reply.

PROBABLE PLAYING XI OF Canada

Rodrigo Thomas, Navneet Dhaliwal (c), Nitish Kumar, Nicholas Kirton, Ravinderpal Singh, Hamza Tariq (wk), Dillon Heyliger, Abraash Khan, Saad bin Zafar, Nikhil Dutta, Jeremy Gordon

OUR FANTASY LEAGUE PICKS FOR Ireland vs Canada GROUP B, 25TH MATCH IN ICC WORLD TWENTY20 QUALIFIER ARE MENTIONED BELOW:

  1. H Tariq
  2. R Thomas
  3. A Balbirnie
  4. K O’brien
  5. P Stirling (C)
  6. N Kumar (VC)
  7. G Delany
  8. D Heyliger
  9. J Gordon
  10. S Bin Zafar
  11. M Adair

Click Here for Match Prediction.

*Disclaimer: A team here is picked based on the perception, analysis, and gut feeling of the author. When you select your team, analyze the points mentioned to arrive at your own decision.*