Ireland and Scotland to face off on Day 4: 2023 CWC Qualifier Day 4 Preview and Prediction
The 12th edition of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers kicked off on 18th June, in Zimbabwe.
The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 is the culmination of four years of intense ODI competition. It brings together the bottom five teams from the ICC Men’s CWC Super League, three automatic qualifiers from the ICC Men’s CWC League 2, and two teams that qualified from the ICC Men’s CWC Qualifier Play-off.
The 10 teams, divided into 2 groups of 5 each, have a total of 2 spots in the 2023 ICC Men’s World Cup to compete for. Following the group matches, from June 29th to July 7th, The top 2 teams from each group will face off to secure their spot in the CWC Qualifier Final.
Day 4 of the ICC World Cup Qualifier 2023 sees two games from group 3. Scotland will play their first match of the tournament against Ireland, who lost against Oman on day 2. Oman find themselves facing minnows UAE, who were humbled by Sri Lanka on day 2. Here, we look at a detailed preview of the two games along with our predictions for the two matchups.
Match 1: Oman vs UAE
Oman has an opportunity to emerge as the biggest surprise of the 2023 World Cup Qualifier. They beat Ireland in match 1 after a commendable all-round display from captain Zeeshan Maqsood. Two wickets each for Bilal Khan and Fayyaz Butt and a poor Irish start meant that they were restricted to a total of 281/7.
In response, the Omanis produced a commendable run chase led by Kashyap Harishbhai, who scored 72 off 74 deliveries. An unbeaten 46 from Mohammad Nadeem was enough to finish things off in style, with Maqsood contributing with a 67-ball 59.
On the other hand, UAE was humbled by the experienced Sri Lankans in game 1. A mammoth total of 355/7 meant that Mohammed Waseem’s team needed an incredible batting feat to have any chance. That did not happen, with Waseem and Vriitiya Arvind top-scoring for their team with both getting dismissed at 39.
Oman produced an impressive victory against Ireland in match 1
The UAE was bundled over for a paltry 180 in 39 overs and needs widespread improvement across all areas to have a chance of qualifying. They will be looking at their talented batting lineup to give them a chance.
There is little doubt that Oman is the obvious favorite for this game after producing a commanding victory in game 1. A bowling lineup led by Bilal Khan, Fayyaz Butt and captain Waseem did a decent job in game 1 and might once again prove to be the key against a struggling UAE team.
Oman Predicted XI: M Naseem Kushi, J Singh, K Prajapati, S Khan, Z Maqsood, A Ilyas, M Nadeem, A Khan, Bilal Khan, J Odedra, and F Butt
UAE Predicted XI: Vriitya Aravind, Waseem Muhammad, Rameez Shahzad, Basil Hameed, Ali Naseer, Rohan Mustafa, Asif Khan, Aayan Khan, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan, Sanchit Sharma, Aryansh Sharma, Karthik Meiyappam, Basil Hameed.
The two teams have collided against each other a total of 5 times in the past, with all of the matches proving to be close affairs. Oman has won just once, with UAE recording victories in 3 of the matches. One of their matches in February 2022 was washed out.
Match 2: Scotland vs Ireland
Ireland was beaten by minnows Oman in their first match of the ICC CWC 2023
Two of the most experienced teams in the tournament, group B sees Scotland and Ireland collide. The Scottish will play their first game of the ICC World Cup Qualifier 2023. They have undergone serious issues with respect to their board in the past year but came very close to qualifying for the 2019 ICC Men’s World Cup.
The Scottish are also missing some key players including the likes of Michael Jones, Josh Davey, and seamer Brad Wheal. They still have a talented squad and will be relying on the spin partnership of Mark Watt and Hamza Tahir to churn out regular wickets. Under the leadership of head coach Mark Watt and Hamza Tahir, the Scottish have done well in the past few months and will be hoping to spring a few surprises.
As far as the Irish are concerned, their tournament got off to the worst possible start after they failed to defend a total of 281 in game 1 against Oman. The surprise loss means that they will have to rely on other teams if they are to have any hope of finishing in top-2.
Sri Lanka is expected to cruise to the top spot in the group, with the likes of Oman, Ireland, and Scotland expected to battle it out for the remaining position. While Ireland might end up losing out, they still have plenty of reasons to be excited about the future. Josh Little has gone strength to strength in recent months while Harry Tector won the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for May.
This was the first time an Irish player was selected for the ICC POTM award. However, there are plenty of other potential young stars that Irish fans can expect good things from, in the near future. This includes Mark Adair and Andy McBrine, along with the in-form Paul Stirling who can also be expected to prove crucial in this tournament.
The fact is that Ireland has the talent they need to emerge victorious against a strong Scottish team. However, their first-day loss means that a quick improvement across all areas will be required if they are to make their way to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
Scotland Predicted XI: George Munsey, Michael Jones, Matthew Cross, Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Chris Greaves, Michael Leask, Mark Watt, Josh Davey, Safyaan Sharif, Brad Wheal
Ireland Predicted XI: Andy Balbirnie, Paul Stirling, Lorcan Tucker, Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Simi Singh, Barry McCarthy, Josh Little
The two teams have faced off against each other a total of 20 times in the past. Considering Ireland is much more experienced, they came out winners 15 times. Scotland was only able to register 4 victories, with 1 of the games not producing a result.