Ireland vs United States, ICC WCQ 2023, Today Match Prediction

ire vs usa Match Prediction & Analysis

Ireland will be facing a winless USA in the 7th place play-off semi-final at the Takashinga Sports Club in Harare. If they win here, they would meet either Nepal or UAE in the final at the same venue.

 Having been knocked out of the race to qualify for the World Cup, Ireland will be hoping to atleast finish on the 7th place. Their key batters have found rhythm in their last game of the Group Stage. 

USA’s best performance with the bat came against West Indies in their opening game where they scored 258 while chasing a 298 runs target. However, since then, the highest they’ve managed to score is 211 runs. 

In their last match, USA lost to Zimbabwe by 304 runs while chasing 409 runs. Batting collapses have been frequent for USA in recent outings. They will be up against a strong Ireland bowling attack. 

Ireland will have the upper hand going into this match given the return to form of their key players in contrast to USA’s batting struggles.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Ireland Preview

Ireland were expected to win more games than they did in the Group Stage. Their loss in the opening match against Oman was a shocker. In recent years Ireland have been a very promising one-day side and have defeated the likes of England as well.

In 2020, Ireland successfully chased down a 329-run target with 7 wickets in hand against the reigning World Champions, England. They came to this tournament with all of the key players from that and other major wins.

Paul Stirling, Andrew Balbirnie, and Harry Tector form a strong top and middle-order. Ireland have been consistent with their team selections and so most of the current players have gotten many chances. The failure against Oman was followed by a 1-wicket loss to Scotland and then Sri Lanka completely thrashed Ireland at the Queens Sports Club. 

Ireland finished with a lone victory in their last game against UAE where Paul Stirling scored 162 at the top followed by a fifty each from Balbirnie and Tector in the middle order. That performance should give them confidence going into this semi-final for the 7th place. 

Joshua Little and Mark Adair will be leading the bowling attack and will be key players to watch out for. Ireland has a great overall side. There are many all-rounders and that adds depth to the lineup and also a great variety to the bowling attack. They will pose a tough challenge to the USA and will have an edge in this contest.

Ireland Predicted Playing XI:

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

United States Preview

They looked promising in their first outing and even though they lost, they had given West Indies a tough fight. Since then, USA’s performance has been a downward graph.

In their match against Nepal, a team that isn’t too strong to beat for the USA, Aaron Jones and co. were 4 down for just 18 runs and finished with 207-10. There was another batting collapse in the next match against Netherlands as USA lost half of their team for just 79 runs. This time around, the finished for 211-8. 

The back to back losses prompted a captaincy change and it was transferred to Monank Patel for the last match against Zimbabwe. USA were bowled out for just 104 runs while chasing 409. Gajanand Singh and Shayan Jahangir are the key batters for USA in the lower middle order.

They have been the only players who have stepped up to the occasion and delivered a fighting knock for the team. Janagir scored 100 off 69 against Nepal and 71 off 86 against Netherlands in the very next game. At the top Steven Taylor and Sushant Modani are out of form while the number 3 and 4 batters aren’t promising either.

Ali Khan, Jasdeep Singh, and Netravalkar are the bowlers who’ve made any significant impact with the ball for USA. These will be the ones to watch out for as USA locks horns against Ireland in their fourth match at this venue.

United States Predicted Playing XI:

Steven Taylor, Sushant Modani, Monank Patel (c), Aaron Jones, Gajanand Singh, Shayan Jahangir (wk), Ali Khan, Nosthush Kenjige, Jasdeep Singh, Saurabh Netravalkar, Abhishek Paradkar

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

It is a great batting pitch and while the bowlers have also enjoyed some success here, it has been against out-of-form batting lineups. The weather will be clear and sunny with a high of 26 degrees Celsius in Harare on the match day.

Venue Details

Takashinga Sports Club in Harare will be the venue for this clash. USA have already played 3 games at this venue while Ireland will be playing their first. The last match here saw both teams score 374 runs each. On a high-scoring venue, the team batting first should be looking at a 280+ total to give themselves the best chance of winning.

Toss: To Bat

Though teams batting second have won more games here, it is a great venue for batting where a lot of runs can be scored. Ireland would be looking to extend their current form with the bat and post a big enough total that would be out of reach for the Americans. USA aren’t in any shape to chase down a target with their current form and they too would be looking to bat first.