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After a thrashing in England, West Indies return to Ireland!
We are backing West Indies to win.
Tournament: | West Indies tour of Ireland, 2025 |
Format: | t20 |
Venue: | Bready Cricket Club, Magheramason, United Kingdom |
Toss Prediction: | To Bat |
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A few decades ago, the thought of West Indies touring Ireland for a cricket series would have been frowned upon such was the strength of the Men in Maroon and the comparative weakness of Irish cricket.
But fast-forward to 2025 and it is certainly fair to say that the teams are now a lot better matched.
This is best shown from the three-match ODI series between Ireland and West Indies last month which finished in a 1-1 draw!
Since then, Ireland have been working on their shorter-format skills while West Indies have been to England and return after losing an ODI series 3-0 and the T20Is by the same margin.
As a result, plenty of pundits are expecting a closely contested series, starting with this opening T20I in Bready on Thursday afternoon.
Just as was the case during the three-match ODI series, Ireland will not be at full strength for these three T20Is as Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany and Craig Young have all been ruled out with injuries.
In their place will come Stephen Doheny and Gavin Hoey, while Tim Tector, who did play in Ireland's last T20I, has reed the squad after initially not making the group.
As ever, this Irish team has plenty of experienced players who have been there and done it at the top level of international cricket. That includes skipper Paul Stirling, keeper-batter Lorcan Tucker and left-arm pacer Josh Little, all three of who will come into this game expecting to go 1-0 up in the series.
During the ODIs, it was Barry McCarthy who had the most joy against the West Indian batters and he will look to operate in partnership with Little during this opening match.
Paul Stirling (c), Lorcan Tucker (wk), Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, Tim Tector, George Dockrell, Gavin Hoey, Fionn Hand, Stephen Doheny, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy
Confidence will not be overly high in the away dressing room ahead of this opening game of the series, particularly as West Indies were beaten for the sixth game out of six during their tour of the UK, ending with a 37 run loss in Southampton on Tuesday.
But despite the poor team returns, there was a return to form for skipper Shai Hope (45 runs from 27 balls) and former captain Rovman Powell who thrashed 79 unbeaten runs from 45 balls.
West Indies may have to consider the future of Sherfane Rutherford in this side after he made another single-figure score in Southampton but he will probably be given a final chance on this tour.
With the ball, Alzarri Joseph was West Indies' most consistent bowler during the six matches in England and the spin duo of Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie are both likely to be threats once again.
Evin Lewis, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope (c) (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Gudakesh Motie, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph
We can expect wall to wall overcast conditions across the afternoon in Bready with a constant threat of rain. It will be very humid but there is a chance that no rain will fall at all.
There has never been a T20I score of 180 at this venue and although batting sides have been on top, the surface can be a little unpredictable. We expect a par score of around 175-185 in Thursday's opening game of the series.
The last three T20Is in Bready, all of which have taken place since the start of 2021, have been won by the team batting first. Therefore, we predict that both skippers will want to bat first ahead of this game.
Ireland will begin this T20I series with plenty of confidence after seeing West Indies struggle throughout their six games in England and Wales over recent weeks. We expect a very close game, but with some of their key players finding form, we predict that Wet Indies will come out on top.
We are backing West Indies to win.
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