THE EDGE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Monday’s T20 World Cup clash between Ireland v Zimbabwe with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
MATCH OVERVIEW:
After a very interrupted warm-up in Australia, Ireland finally start their World Cup campaign against Zimbabwe on Monday morning in Hobart. This should be a very close game and we should also have plenty of flip flops within the market on BETDAQ Betting Exchange. Ireland are a very good ODI team these days, but they have struggled in the T20 format for a while. They are making improvements though, and their power hitting has got better. Apart from George Dockrell who must be the most improved cricketer in the world these days they really struggle for that lower order power hitting. He has actually moved up to the middle order the others have been so bad!
For the last World Cup, which Ireland exited at this stage of the competition, a lot of pressure was put on the top three in the batting. Ireland have improved since because they have Harry Tector, George Dockrell and Lorcan Tucker who are all fantastic with the bat, but so much pressure still lies on the shoulders of Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie at the top of the order. To put it simply, Ireland need a good start to the middle order can fire – otherwise they are always fighting a losing battle.
These two sides know each other very well, but Zimbabwe have been going through changes recently. We all know Brandan Taylor retired after the last Zimbabwe tour of Ireland and so much is always going on with their cricket board and domestically that we tend to see a lot changes. Craig Ervine and Sean Williams will be the key. In fairness, both sides know who to target!
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The weather has been dreadful in Australia recently – you only have to look at the amount of warm-up games we have lost to see that you simply have to keep an eye on the radar here. Even if the weather forecast is good for the game time at the time of writing, but there is also rain forecast for the morning so just keep an eye on the radar come game time. Scoring is generally good in Hobart during the Big Bash games here – we have two solid, but not amazing sides here, so that might reduce scoring a little but the side batting first has to be aiming for 170+ here. Apart from this World Cup, Australia have had a domestic International T20 here since England in 2018!
RECOMMENDED BET:
Whatever way you look at this game I think we’re going to have a very close game. We saw in the recent five game T20 series between Ireland and Afghanistan that there really isn’t much between the sides at this level, and it’s a case of who plays the better cricket on the day. We all know the key players for both sides, and both sides will be targeting them – who fires from those will likely decide the game. From a betting point of view, I’m happy with a small bet on Zimbabwe at 2.08 because I believe this is a very 50/50 game which will be decided by one big moment in my opinion. A proper coin flip, so Zimbabwe are the value bet.
The Edge Says:
One point win Zimbabwe to beat Ireland at 2.08 with Betdaq Exchange.
View the market here -> https://betdaq.biz/IreZim
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
With so much rain around, the first in-running edge is to check the radar for any angles that arise. I’d probably bowl first, in the Big Bash there wasn’t any major edge over the years but in a high pressure game I think you’d bowl first. I know that brings the chasing pressure, but the side batting first is likely to fail trying to score too many. From an Ireland point of view, I’d be very happy to support Dockrell when he comes in – he has been superb this summer for Ireland and is full of confidence. While Stirling can move the market a lot at the top of the order, he didn’t fire in the CPL so I’d want to see him in action here before taking a position. I’d be against the openers for Zimbabwe, and support their middle order. This Irish bowling attack is poor at the death too, so watch out for carnage in the final three overs when Zimbabwe are batting – that might change the game.
