Our online cricket betting analysis and England v Ireland betting predictions are coming up next so keep on reading because we’re going to talk you through all the important factors ahead of this important match at the World Cup.
England are heavy favourites and with good reason. This could be a pretty one-sided contest so our best betting tip of the match lies in another market away from the match winner.
The match will take place at the MCG on Wednesday, October 26 at 9:30 IST and should be a good one, so keep on reading.
Up next are our free cricket betting tips for this match and given we think England should be too strong for Ireland (irrespective of the toss), and are only available at very short odds, and we need to turn to another market for a good wager.
So we’ll turn our attention to the England top batsman market and I’m about to tell you who’s carrying my money.
There’s also the toss prediction below so keep on reading and all will be revealed.
Recommended Bet: Back Jos Buttler to be England Top Batsman @ 3.1 in Live Betting with Blue Chip.
England are 1.07 with Ireland 8.6.
It’s one of those: we don’t want to be backing England at that sort of price and to make matters worse, that may actually be the biggest price they reach.
It’s very possible that they start the match well with either bat or ball and that their odds are shorter than those currently available right from the word go. So hoping to get around 1.5 on them in Live Betting looks a tough ask.
And if that’s the case, Ireland may not have a hope at all.
The best scenario for them would be to have a rain-shortened match that was maybe 10-overs-a-side and hope that one of their batsmen can go big.
If that’s what happens and there’s reduction in overs, then a small gamble on Ireland might be worth it.
But if that doesn’t happen, it might be worth keeping it simple and going with the favourite Jos Buttler to be England’s Top Batsman.
He didn’t get going on Saturday but we know what to expect from the man who was the IPL’s Top Batsman this year and is one of the very best in the world.
In addition to his numbers and class, there’s another reason why he rates a good bet.
If Ireland bat first and only get to about 130, then it’s not worth looking too far beyond the England opening partnership of Buttler and Alex Hales, who could well chase down that total between them.
Buttler is the shorter price but he’s also the better player, so he’s the bet.
And if you haven’t read it already, here’s our BlueChip review.
It was a strange sort of match against Afghanistan.
They bowled exceptionally well with Sam Curran the pick of the bowlers with 5-10.
Yes, a few of those were somewhat cheap wickets with the Afghanistan tail-enders looking for some late runs but Curran deserves credit and is now a serious contender to end as Top Bowler for the whole tournament.
Mark Wood and Ben Stokes were both good as well in taking two wickets for not many runs but Adil Rashid didn’t have the best of days in going wicketless and conceding 32 runs, the most of any England bowler.
Chasing a paltry total of just 113 at Perth, they almost made a mess of the chase.
The Top 3 of Jos Buttler, Alex Hales and Dawid Malan all got out for 18, 18 and 18 respectively and in the end it was Liam Livingstone top-scoring for them with 29 that got them over the line.
So, not the best of performances with the bat for them but they’ll be glad to get that first win under their belts and that’s the most important thing.
Mark Wood is an injury-prone player whose workload needs to be carefully managed, so they may just rest him here, given this is a match they’re expected to win.
If that’s the case, then Chris Jordan or David Willey will come in for him to give Wood a rest.
After their heroics in winning back-to-back matches in the previous round, Ireland came crashing back down to earth on Sunday morning.
Many felt this was a really good chance to pick up a rare win in the main round of the World Cup but it wasn’t to be.
The good and aggressive batting that served them so well in those wins over Scotland and the West Indies deserted them here with only Paul Stirling (34) and Harry Tector (45) making any significant contributions.
In the end they got just 128/8 against a decent Sri Lankan side where Hasaranga de Silva once again proved his class with a match-turning 2-13.
With the ball, they managed to take just the one wicket (Gareth Delany) and Sri Lanka won the game at a canter with five overs to spare.
It was a big wake-up call to the fact that beating the likes of Scotland and even the West Indies is one thing but that maybe they’re not quite there yet against the very best teams in the world.
And it’s certainly not going to get any easier going forward. Even this match will be a step up from what they had to face against Sri Lanka.
