Austria vs Italy, ICC Mens T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier 2023, Today Match Prediction 27 July 2023

au vs ita Match Prediction & Analysis

The 2023 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Europe Region Qualifier is reaching its final stage. The top two teams of the regional final will qualify for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, and it looks likely that the two teams will be Scotland and Ireland, who currently lead the table. Austria are out of the race, but Italy still has an outside chance. Realistically, though, that looks highly unlikely. The two sides will face off, incidentally, for the first time in T20 cricket, on July 27 at Goldenacre.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Austria Preview

Italy are currently fifth on the T20 World Cup Europe Region Qualifier table with 4 points from 4 games. They have won two matches – against Jersey and Denmark – and have two more games left to play. If they win their last two matches and if the other results go their way, they still stand a chance of making it to the top two. 
Italy are coming off a solid 26-run win against Denmark. After being asked to bat first at Grange Cricket Club, they posted 150-8 on the board and bowled Denmark out for 124. All-rounder Harry Manenti was the top-scorer for the team with a fine 51 off 35 balls. 

Marcus Campopiano (87 runs in 4 innings at a strike rate of 145) has been their best batter in the tournament. The opener hasn’t got a fifty-plus score in the series, but we are expecting him to play an important part in this match.

Another batter worth watching out for is Grant Stewart (240 runs in the last 7 matches at a strike rate of 177). 

Italy’s bowling attack has done quite a good job in this series, with new ball bowlers Gareth Berg (10 wickets in 4 innings at an economy of 7.75) and Manenti (9 wickets in 4 innings at 7.80) doing most of the damage. 

Austria Predicted Playing XI:

Ben Manenti, Marcus Campopiano, Anthony Mosca, Wayne Madsen, Harry Manenti, Grant Stewart, Gian Meade, Gareth Berg (c), Manpreet Singh (wk), Jaspreet Singh, Stefano di Bartolomeo

Italy Preview

Austria haven’t won a single game in this competition, and the way they are going, they may well end the series with zero points in their kitty. They are coming off a 166-run thrashing against Scotland at Goldenacre. After choosing to bowl first, they let Scotland post a mammoth 232-2 and were then shot out for just 66 in reply.

Austria haven’t performed as a unit. Captain Razmal Shigiwal (73 runs in 5 innings at a strike rate of 95) is the only batter who has made a decent contribution. A lot was expected from Shahil Momin, but the middle-order batter has failed miserably. 

Armaan Randhawa (51 runs in 5 innings at a strike rate of 52) is someone who has the ability to hold the innings together. Although he has had a poor series, this might just be his game.

There is not much to talk about Austria’s bowling. Slow left-arm spinner Abdullah Akbarjan has been their standout bowler this series, taking 4 wickets at an economy of 7.46. Fast bowling all-rounder Aqib Iqbal (3 wickets in 3 innings at an economy of 11) was doing a fine job, but hasn’t played the last two games. 

Italy Predicted Playing XI:

Navin Wijesekara, Iqbal Hossain, Razmal Shigiwal (c), Armaan Randhawa, Shahil Momin, Mehar Cheema (wk), Umair Tariq/ Aqib Iqbal, Abdullah Akbarjan, Jaweed Sadran, Sahel Zadran, Amit Nathwani

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The pitch at Goldenacre is a balanced one. It does help the bowlers more, particularly seam bowlers, but once batters are in, they have the opportunity to make a big one, as we have seen in the matches involving Scotland and Ireland here. The weather is expected to be mostly cloudy during the match with a couple of showers. This should help seam bowlers get a lot of seam movement off the air.

Venue Details

The average score batting first at Goldenacre is 139. The highest team score at the venue is 234-5 by Scotland against Germany in this tournament. The team batting first must look to set a target of around 160-170 runs.

Toss: To Bowl

Two out of the last three matches at Goldenacre have been won by the side chasing. With the weather likely to be cloudy tomorrow, the team winning the toss is likely to bowl first to allow their bowlers to take advantage of the overhead conditions and get some quick wickets.