England v/s Ireland: England won the toss
BANGALORE: Today in the Group B match of the ICC World Cup at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore, England skipper Andrew Strauss won the toss and decided to bat first against Ireland.
Captain Andrew Strauss is in a great form. Stuart Broad returned to the final eleven after missing match against India due to illness. Broad replaced Ajmal Shahzad in the team.
England has already played two games; one against Netherlands and the last one against India.The English have proved that they have a strong team. The batsmen were able to chase big scores winning one and tying the other.
England secured three points and placed just behind India in the table with the only thing separating them being the run-rate. England’s batting has fired in both their previous encounters where they chased down 292 against Holland and scored 338 against India.
Ireland, on the other side failed to build strong partnerships when they played against Bangladesh. They lost wickets at close intervals and that led to their downfall while chasing the low total. If they are to have any chance against England, their openers William Porterfield and Paul Stirling need to up their game and put runs on the board. The middle order, which showed some fight in the form of the O’Brien brothers, will also need to fire to give Ireland a fighting chance.
Ireland’s bowlers fared better than the batsmen as they dismissed Bangladesh for 205. But the team was let down by the batsmen as they failed to chase down the total.
Interestingly, Ireland will have the services of some of the regulars of English county circuit such as Ed Joyce, who was granted special dispensation by the ICC to play for the country of his birth at the last moment.
Team of England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Michael Yardy.
Team of Ireland: William Porterfield (capt), Gary Wilson, Alex Cusack, Niall O’Brien, Kevin O’Brien, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, John Mooney, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce.
