England vs Ireland ICC Cricket World Cup 2011: Preview

Bangalore: After snatching a thrilling tie against favourites India, a rampaging England will look to mow down minnows Ireland and pocket the crucial two points when they meet in a group B match of the cricket World Cup on Wednesday.


After an unconvincing victory against Holland in their opening match, England were in sniffing distance of a memorable win over India on Sunday but the English team almost threw the chance before holding on to an astonishing tie.


Having three points from two matches, England are placed just behind India in the table with the only thing separating them being the run-rate. Andrew Strauss' men would hope to notch up a huge win tomorrow to get to the top.


England's batting has fired in both their previous encounters where they chased down 292 against Holland and scored 338 against India and skipper Strauss would want another solid performance from his batters.


However, the bowling has been a bit lacklustre as they have been leaking runs galore. James Anderson produced the worst World Cup performance by and Englishman when he gave away 91 runs in 9.5 overs, while Stuart Broad's replacement Ajmal Shahzad bled 53 in eight overs against India.


Save for Tim Bresnan, who took 5-48, none of the other bowlers, including spinners have been very successful.


Ian Bell, however, defended the bowlers and said England team are now a genuine World Cup contender.


"I think the conditions have been very hard for the bowlers. The batting team has to score heavy to defend. It was a fantastic performance by Tim (Bresnan) on a surface like this. He is in incredible form," Bell said.


"We were chasing 338 and I do not think so many teams in the past would have done that. We have got the quality in bowling and we were 100 per cent right in our fielding too.


"We can be a threat to the other teams in the World Cup if we start playing collectively as a group. As a team we can match anyone," Bell said.


Ireland, on the other hand, didn't have much to take home from their match against Bangladesh, their first match of the World Cup.


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 and it would take a mammoth effort if they have to salvage any hope of an upset tomorrow.


"We have to bounce back. We can't let it (defeat against Bangladesh) bother us. We have to leave the batting here and move on to Bangalore," Skipper William Porterfield said.


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.


Joyce, who was dropped by England after the side's dismal showing at the 2007 World Cup, will be joined by Somerset spinner George Dockrell tomorrow.


Bell also reckoned there are some dangerous players in the Ireland side who can spoil their party.


"We know a fair bit (about Ireland). These days a lot of those guys are respected on the county circuit. They have earned respect in international one-day cricket and there is a lot of experience in their side from county cricket.


"It's a game we're looking forward to and will have to play well in. It is not a game we can turn up and just coast. There are some dangerous players in that Ireland side," he said.

Squads (from):

England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Michael Yardy, Ajmal Shahzad, James Tredwell, Luke Wright


Ireland: William Porterfield (capt), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, Niall O'Brien, Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, John Mooney, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Gary Wilson, Andrew White, Ed Joyce

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Billy Bowden (NZL)

TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)

Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)

Match start: 1430 IST.

ICC Cricket Worldcup 2011 Bangladesh win over Ireland by 27 runs.

Chasing a winning target of 206, Ireland were all out for 178 in 45 overs to give Bangladesh victory by 27 runs.

Dhaka: Bangladesh stung flat-footed Ireland to resurrect their World Cup campaign with a 27-run victory in front of some 25,000 boisterous home fans on Friday.

Bangladesh, bowled out for 205 after taking first strike in the day-night match, hit back to dismiss the leading non-Test nation for 178 in 45 overs at the packed Sher-e-Bangla stadium.

Former captain Mohammad Ashraful, who scored just one run, turned an unlikely hero with the ball by claiming two top-order wickets with his part-time off-spin.

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan also picked up two wickets with left-arm spin before seamer Shafiul Islam polished off the tail in quick time with 4-21 from eight overs.

Bangladesh, who had lost their first match to India last week, lapped up the pressure in a game they had to win to stay in contention for the quarter-finals from Group B.

But the co-hosts, who play all their league matches at home, must still beat the Netherlands and at least one of the established teams among England, South Africa and the West Indies.

The win helped Bangladesh avenge two successive defeats by Ireland in major events, having lost during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean and again in the 2009 World Twenty20 in England.

"It was a good game. I thought we played really hard cricket although we didn't bat well. Our bowlers and fielders showed great character and our support was excellent," said Shakib.

Disappointed Irish skipper William Porterfield said a poor batting display cost his side a crucial win.

"It's not hard to work out where we lost the game. We never settled down with the bat. The first 50 overs was pretty good," he said.

But he added: "You can't afford that many soft dismissals."

Shakib turned to spin after just one over from Shafiul, bringing on left-armer Abdul Razzak in the second over and off-spinner Naeem Islam in the third.


The move paid immediate dividends as Paul Stirling was stumped off Razzak for nine, before Irish captain William Porterfield fell to Shakib's first delivery for 20.

Ed Joyce and Niall O'Brien carried the score from 36-2 to 75 when Ashraful struck with the first delivery of his second spell.

Joyce, the former England batsman, made a fluent 16 when he was beaten in the air by a flighted ball and gave a delighted Ashraful an easy return catch.

Ashraful then bowled Andrew White for 10, while Shakib claimed his second wicket when Niall O'Brien fell to a diving catch by Tamim Iqbal at deep mid-wicket after making 38.

Kevin O'Brien slammed three fours and a six in 37 during a sixth-wicket stand of 41 with Andre Botha when he pulled Shafiul to mid-wicket to reduce Ireland to 151-6 in the 37th over.

Shafiul, who had recovered in time from a shoulder injury to play the key match, claimed three of the last four wickets to send Ireland crashing.

Earlier, seamer Andre Botha picked up three wickets and George Dockrell and Trent Johnston claimed two each to bowl out the hosts in 49.2 overs.

The hosts made a blistering start, racing to 49 without loss by the end of the fifth over, 37 of those runs coming from the blade of Tamim.

But the advantage was soon lost as four wickets fell for 33 runs in the next 10 overs.

Man of the match Tamim, who top-scored with 70 against India, began by taking 10 runs in Boyd Rankin's opening over and stroked seven boundaries in his 44 off 43 balls.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Raqibul Hasan lifted the hosts with a 61-run stand for the fifth wicket, before tailender Naeem Islam boosted the total with a defiant 29 towards the end.

Bangladesh vs Ireland Cricket World Cup 2011 Live Scorecard

Bangladesh have not good start in world cup they lose first match against india. They will need to be at the top of their game, and higher, against a rampaging India. Bangladesh’s fortunes depend greatly on opener Tamim Iqbal’s mood and form. Pace bowlers Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain both are in good touch, if only that Hossain is slightly on the leakier side. On other hand Ireland team is no doubt good team, Ireland have some play good game then they are make history like in previous World cup.

Bangladesh will play second match of 2011 ICC cricket world cup against Ireland. Till date Bangladesh played 6 match against Ireland and won 4 of them. The ODI ranking for Bangladesh is 9 and that of Ireland is 10. In statistics both the teams are of same strength. This time we have home ground support and our lads are doing well recently with bowling and batting skills. Hurray Bangla!!!!!!!

Bangladesh vs Ireland World Cup 2011 Match Details:

Match Number: 9
Location: Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, Dhaka
Date: Friday 25 February 2011.
Time: Match scheduled to begin at 9:30 (IST)

Match will be Telecast in Bangladesh Television on time : 9:30 and for Ireland supporters can watch the match in Sky Sports HD, Zee Cafe corporation at 8 pm

Probable Players are:
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid
Sidiqui, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib ul Hasan, Mushfikur
Rahman, Mahmudulla, Naeem Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza,
Shafiul Islam, Suhrawadi Shuvo, Rubel Hossein, Jahurul
Islam, Mohd Ashraful

Ireland: William Porterfield (Captain), Andre Botha, Alex
Cusack, Niall O'Brien (WK), Kevin O'Brien, George Dockrell,
Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, John Mooney, Boyd Rankin,
Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Gary Wilson (wk),
Andrew White, Ed Joyce

Ireland beats Zimbabwe by 4 wickets in warm-up match at Nagpur.

For both teams it was the last chance for the preparations of world cup. The century of Chigumbura gets no benefit.

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first. Brendan Taylor and Charles Coventry opened the innings. Johnston got the early wicket by taking Taylor with the help of Wilson, he scored one run. Coventry went back after scoring 5. Wilson took his catch behind the wickets on the ball of Rankin. SC Williams became the second wicket for Johnston, he scored just 3 runs. At this time Zimbabwe’s total was 12/3. Tatenda Taibu and Craig Ervine played sensibly and scored 62 runs in the fourth wicket partnership. Ervine got run out after scoring 27 runs. Next, captain Chigumbura and Taibu played responsibly brings their total to 100, at this time the resistance of Taibu ended and he went back after scoring 45 runs.

Prosper Utseya became the sixth wicket of Irish bowlers, who went back after scoring 26 runs White took his catch on the ball of Botha. Hamilton Masakadza can just score 1 run. Chigumbura continued to play aggressively and completed his century. At the end of specified number of overs Zimbabwe’s score was 244/8. Chigumbura was unbeatable on 103 while Creamer on 1. Johnston and Botha took 2, 2 wickets.

Start of Irish side was not good too Masakadza got Paul Stirling in the first over of the innings. Niall O’Brien went back after scoring 15 runs. After losing two wickets, Alex Cusack and Andre Botha played slow and sensible cricket. After scoring 47 runs, Cusack bowled out by Creamer. Andrew White went back to pavilion after scoring 19. He cannot play in swinging ball of Williams and got clean bold. Botha played excellently and added 79 precious runs to his team’s total. Kevin O’Brien and John Mooney took their team to the victory. At the end both were not out on 62 and 5 runs respectively.