New Zealand vs Ireland, ICCWCT20 2022, Today Match Prediction 04 November 2022

nz vs ire Match Prediction & Analysis

New Zealand will not be pleased with how they failed to finish in their last match against England. With 5 more overs left in the run chase, the scales were evenly balanced with England having a 51% chance of winning. 

Neesham and Daryl Mitchell failed to deliver at crucial times and Phillips was left alone at the other end. A win against Ireland would mean the semi-final berth is sealed for the Blackcaps.

Santner has backed his captain in these tough times when Williamson’s struggle is clearly hurting New Zealand. Ireland have a few positives to take from their last match against Australia.

They were exceptional in the field and were pretty disciplined in their bowling effort as well. Joshua Little and Barry McCarthy delivered breakthroughs and kept Ireland alive in the contest. 

The batting hasn’t been consistent from Ireland and with only one or two batters scoring the bulk of the runs for the team in every game, they will be on the back foot in this match. 

TEAMS PREVIEW

New Zealand Preview

Kane Williamson’s approach has been very cautious in recent times. He has been valuing his wicket highly and not taking his chances to play those strokes he used to execute so well a couple of years ago.

He was the match-finisher for SRH just a few seasons ago and now his strike rate is hurting the Blackcaps. One can say he needs to anchor the innings for the team when the wickets are falling in quick succession. 

But once the innings is balanced and a partnership is built, he should be able to step on the pedal and accelerate at one point in the innings. 

Jimmy Neesham is a well-known big-hitting all-rounder who’s changed the game many times for New Zealand. Along with Neesham, Daryl Mitchell, who’s now featuring at number 6 is also key to a good finish for NZ.

Finn Allen and Glenn Phillips are likely to continue their aggressive approach to batting and the latter is in the form of his life. He was disappointed when he failed to finish the game for his team.

There’s still a lot left in Phillips and we expect more fireworks in this match. Boult and Southee will be too good for the Irish top order and with Santner and Sodhi in the middle overs, New Zealand would be all over the Ireland batting order.

New Zealand Predicted Playing XI:

Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult

New Zealand Actual Playing XI:

Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Finn Allen, Ish Sodhi, Kane Williamson, Lockie Ferguson, James Neesham, Tim Southee

Ireland Preview

Ireland are out of the race to the semi-finals with just 1 win so far and only one game left. They would take home the sweet memory of beating England and their inspiring journey to reach Super 12. 

If it wasn’t for the inconsistency in their batting lineup, we wouldn’t have counted the Balbirnie-led team out of this contest. Ireland is a strong bunch with some exceptional fielders who have shown the highest class of athleticism in the field.

The bowlers are also quite promising with Mark Adair, Joshua Little, and McCarthy leading the pace attack. Though there are many improvements needed, it is still a fighting bunch of players who can put on an impressive show in the field on any given day.

However, in terms of their batting, there isn’t much to show for it. For the last two games, Ireland had a sole fighter in Tucker and Balbirnie against Australia and England respectively.

Tucker was unbeaten on 71 off 48 chasing 180 runs against Australia while none of the other batsmen managed to even cross the 20-runs mark. 

Prior to that, it was the 82-run partnership between Balbirnie and Tucker for the 2nd wicket against England. After the partnership ended in the 12th over, Ireland lost 8 wickets for just 54 runs in 44 balls. 

Ireland Predicted Playing XI:

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

Ireland Actual Playing XI:

Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Joshua Little, Paul Stirling, Barry McCarthy, Fionn Hand, Lorcan Tucker, Gareth Delany, Harry Tector, Andrew Balbirnie

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

While it is known to be a batting pitch, the first game at Adelaide saw bowlers dominate in a low-scoring affair. We expect a good contest between bat and ball in this match. The weather is expected to be mostly sunny with a high of 19 degrees Celsius.

Venue Details

The average 1st innings score in BBL at this venue is 165 runs. With the pitch offering some help to the bowlers as well, it won’t be easy to score a big total and we reckon a 170-plus score would be a match-winning one.

Toss: To Bat

New Zealand can sort out their batting troubles if they opt to bat first. Batting first would allow Williamson to play worry-free and find his rhythm. Teams batting first have won 37 of the 62 domestic T20s at this venue.