 In the first game of the Super Eights, Ireland will take on New Zealand
at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. New Zealand had qualified from their group by beating
Scotland, but had gone on to lose a last ball thriller to South Africa,
while Ireland needed just a win against Bangladesh to get through to the second
stage.
For the second game in a row in the first round, New Zealand had one of their
departments not working well for them. In the first game, their bowlers were
taken apart for many by the Scottish batsmen, while the second game saw South
Africa disallowing the Kiwi batsmen from scoring the required 126 for a win.
The Kiwis would obviously be hoping for their captain Daniel Vettori
to get back to full fitness, especially given that captaincy has looked to have
put a lot of pressure on Brendon McCullum, the batsman. Continuing on
the topic of injuries, the Kiwi team looks to be reeling under them, what with
Vettori and a couple of other pace bowlers at least along with Jesse Ryder
in line for the physiotherapists' table before the business end of the tournament
begins.
Apart from McCullum, Ross Taylor seems to have got back into touch during
the latter stages of the IPL, and from the Kiwi perspective, they would hope
that he manages to continue with his purple patch. Amongst bowlers, Iain O'Brien
has lost his pace and swing almost as magically as the other Ian - Butler -
has found his! In the absence of Shane Bond, Butler will hold the key with the
new ball, and with a line-up like Jacob Oram and James Franklin to boot,
it is easy to call their bowling a tad weak.
Ireland will be hit by Niall O'Brien's injury during the Bangladesh
game and in all probabilities he may not recover in time to play against the
Kiwis. That should put the pressure on the opening pair of Jeremy Bray and William
Porterfield to do the early damage and Kevin O'Brien to finish it off.
While the Irish bowling is a trifle dibbly-dobbly in nature, Trent Johnston
had shown what a good spell of bowling against Bangladesh could do to the opposition.
He will continue to remain Ireland's best hope if the conditions afford slight
amount of swing
While the Kiwis may begin as favourites against Ireland, it will be foolhardy
on the part of them to underestimate the team. Yet, they should start as favourites
to get the better of Ireland.
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