IRE vs SCT 7th Match - Group B Prediction

IRE vs SCT Team Previews

Ireland

Ireland’s poor run in the build-up to this tournament seems to have continued here too, as they lost their opening fixture on Monday. The team started as the favorites to win against Oman but were beaten quite convincingly in the end, making their journey to the marquee event even more difficult.

Ireland will pin its hopes on the opening pair of Andy McBrine and Paul Stirling to give them a good start here. The duo put up a 51-run partnership in the last match but failed to capitalize on it. Ireland has a strong middle order at its disposal as Harry Tector, Andrew Balbirnie, and Lorcan Tucker can play well. Tector scored a half-century in the opening fixture and will be looking to continue with his good form.

George Dockrell was excellent too, scoring 91 runs from just 89 deliveries. The bowling was a big letdown for the team in the last match and there is a big scope of improvement there. While Joshua Little and Mark Adair were quite economical and picked up 2 wickets each.

The other bowlers, including Ben White, Graham Hume, and McBrine seemed helpless in the face of a fightback by Oman. Ireland will have to make amends here if they want to keep their qualification chances alive. 

Scotland

Scotland had a good run in League 2 as they dominated the opposing teams. They were the first ones to book a ticket to Zimbabwe and ended the tournament at the top of the points table.

However, things are not all good for Scotland as some of their key players are unavailable for this tournament. The team is yet to find worthy replacements for two of their top batsmen, Callum McLeod and Kyle Coetzer, who have retired, while Michael Jones and Josh Davey are unavailable due to prior commitments in County Cricket.

Brad Wheal is likely to miss out too due to an injury. George Munsey and Richard Berrington will be key batsmen for Scotland here. Jack Jarvis and Tom Mackintosh have performed well in the U19 circuit but only time will tell if they can fit in well with the seniors. All-rounder Brandon McMullen has made a strong start to his international career and will be looking to capitalize on that.

Coming to the bowling, Adrian Neill, Alasdair Evans, and Chris Sole are likely to lead the pace attack here. But in the absence of their key seamers, the new-ball bowling will remain an Achilles heel for Scotland. In such a case, there will be added pressure on Mark Watt and Hamza Tahir, who are the two established spinners on the team.