England is all set to host Ireland for the 1st ever ODI after the revival of cricket post the pandemic lockdown. This will be a 3-ODI series, played at a single location, Southampton.
Members of the England Test team will not take part in the ODI series. The visitors have named 14 players for the first ODI. World Cup-winning skipper Eoin Morgan will lead the England ODI team while All-rounder Moeen Ali has been named as vice-captain. Andrew Balbirnie will captain the Ireland ODI side for this series.
This first ODI against England will give a boost to Ireland as their cricket season was postponed due to the pandemic. They will look for hope as there will be some new faces in the England team, but considerable challenges are ready ahead as they are going to compete against the ODI world champion.
Fantasy cricket team prediction:
Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow will be the key players in the first ODI. They have a remarkable partnership score(Over 1000 runs) in history. Also, their performance at Southampton is outstanding. This will be a positive point for the England team.
Eoin Morgan has a brilliant score against Ireland. He has scored 264 runs in the 5 ODIs against Ireland with a strike rate of 67.25 and Run Rate of 101.51. His performance at the Rose Bowl stadium is particularly impressive in recent years. He has the most ODI runs by any player at the ground.
Adil Rashid has most wickets against Ireland of any current England ODI players. He was also the player of the match in the last ODI.
Tom Banton has scored well in the England Intra-squad matches. His T20 strike rate makes him a dangerous player for the ODI. This makes him the most prominent choice for England playing XI.
Moeen Ali will be the one to watch. His balling attack at South Africa was something to gaze upon.
Tom Curran has proven to be a strong wicket-taker in limited over tournaments. His performance was excellent in the Big Bash League. He is expected to take some wickets in the powerplay and death overs.
It remains to be seen if England plays Sam Billings as a wicket-keeper or gives the wicket-keeping to Jonny Bairstow.
Ireland captain, Andy Balbirnie, has delivered a strong performance since the beginning of 2018. He has scored over 1,100 runs in 30 matches with a strike rate of 79.79. He is a crucial player for Ireland.
William Porterfield has the most runs in England-Ireland ODIs. Simi Singh was good with the ball in West Indies(6 wickets in 3 ODI matches). It is expected that he will have a key role in the first ODI.
Curtis Campher will be playing his first international match. He has scored two fifties for Ireland A before the pandemic. Middle-order batsman, Harry Tector, is also expected to make his international debut in this match.
Average first innings score – 259.6
Pitch Report and weather prediction:
ODI pitch at the Rose Bowl stadium is expected to be easy-paced, as it was in the case of the recent ENG vs WI test series. The weather forecast is quite good for the first ODI. It will be mostly sunny, with no disruptions of rains whatsoever.
Stats:
England and Ireland had face to face encounters 10 times, 2 of them were in the world cup. In the first-ever encounter in the 2007 world cup, it was an easy win for the England team. However, the Ireland team stunned England in the 2011 world cup. Kevin O’Brien hit a momentous century in that match. Overall, England has won 8 out of 10 matches against Ireland, only 1 loss and 1 No Result.
In England, there have been only 2 England-Ireland ODI matches held and both were won by the host. This time, Ireland will look for the first victory on the England ground.
At Southampton, the team batting first has won 3 out of 5 matches.