Kathmandu – Irish team is one of the favorites in the qualifying level along with the host itself but Nepal have had an miserable ICC world cup qualifiers in January earlier this year but it’s a different format, different mentality, different grounds and different environment. Irish team might have the ODI status but when it comes to t20s there is not much of difference when rankings are concerned. Nepal has clashed with Ireland 8 time before in different levels but wasn’t really able to make an impression giving them 7 wins.
Nepal vs Ireland; 4th warm up match of the qualifying level to be played on Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, Fatullah from 7:30 local time (7:15NST) is going to be the 9th clash between Nepal and Ireland. “For Ireland it might be the just another international match but it’s going to be everything for the Nepalese team” said the vice captain Nepali cricket team. Irish all-rounder Kelvin O’Brien talking to media last night told that Irish team is expecting Nepali team to give them a tough challenge and they won’t deny the strength of Nepalese players. “Ireland won’t be taking their bowling line up lightly, their bowling lineup is comparable to the best of world, especially S Gauchan is going to be a threat,” he added.
Pitch Report and Weather Forecast
This looks like a typical Fatullah pitch, there is some dead grass which is rolled nicely which might help the seamers early in the inning but as the game progresses they will be swept and the pitch will began to behave differently. This looks a very good pitch for batting, there might be something for the fast bowlers early on but the ball will come nicely on the bat. Remember, this is second match to be played at Fatullah today so the dead grasses might already be swept and will become even easier for the batsman to play across the line. Spinners will have a tough game today as the boundaries here in Fatullah are not quite as big as some other grounds.
According to the weather forecast it will be a sunny day in Fatullah and towards dusk dew might just come down. It will be hot and humid throughout the game period, the maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 35-20 respectively. There will be a slight bridge blowing across the ground; at the moment bridge is blowing at 3 kph.
What if you win the toss? Toss will play a factor in this game, if I am the captain then I will no doubt choose to field first also dew being a threat.
Teams and Officials
Some bad news for the Nepali fans regarding teams, Coach Pubudu Dassanayake said, “ Paras can’t perform well when he was playing the world cup qualifiers instead of shoulder injury so we can’t take risk here, also one of our strike bowler Avinash Karn won’t be playing because of knee injury.” The Nepali team that is likely to play is: S Khakurel (wk), S Pun, G Malla (c), B Bhattarai, S Vesawakar ,P Bakota, P Airee, B Regmi, S Gauchan, S Kami, J Mukhiya.
As long as Irish team is concerned team manager said, “ The team is up-to-date, Our A team is playing against Nepal tomorrow.” “ The team will be decided according how the pitch responds in the first match between Afgans and Bengals” he added. The team likely to play is: W Porterfield (c), P Stirling, E Joyce, N O’Brien, G Wilson(wk), K O’Brien, A Poynter, S Thompson , M Sorensen, G Dockrell, T Murtagh.
Match Officials:
On field umpires: M Erasmus, I Gould
Third Umpire: B Bowden
Fourth umpire: S Davis
