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Abu Dhabi plays host to Ireland and South Africa, who are both desperately looking to find form in T20 cricket.
DATE/TIME: Friday 27th September 2024 – UK – 12:30pm / India – 5:00pm / US EST – 7:30am / US PST – 4:30am
VENUE: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
WEATHER: Extremely hot conditions with bright sunshine and temperatures of up to 38c.
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TNT Sports / India– Not Televised / US – Not Televised
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – discovery+ / India – Fancode / US – Cricket Ireland Youtube channel
IRELAND FORM: WITHOUT A T20 WIN SINCE MAY
Ireland’s last victory in this form of cricket came in a T20 World Cup warm-up match against Netherlands. Since then, they’ve tasted defeat in all bar one match, which was rained off as they were dumped out of the World Cup early on.
LAST FIVE: LALLL
SOUTH AFRICA FORM: PROTEAS STILL YET TO SHAKE OFF WORLD CUP BLUES
South Africa’s extended hangover following their agonising T20 World Cup defeat continued after they were swept in the West Indies. Not playing their best team undoubtedly had an impact on that result and again they won’t be at their strongest across this series.
LAST FIVE: LLLLW
IRELAND BETTING ANALYSIS
Ireland have an ace within their ranks in batter Harry Tector and his penchant for runs could come in very handy here. Tector has the ability to switch pace in the blink of an eye and can balance control with aggression depending on the match situation. With that in mind, backing Tector to score 20+ runs may wind up being a shrewd move.
SOUTH AFRICA BETTING ANALYSIS
A number of South Africa players will be wanting to state their case as to why they should retain a starting spot when a number of their regular stars come back into the fold down the line. One of those is Reeza Hendricks, the opener who will try and get the Proteas off to a fast start inside the powerplay. Consider backing Hendricks to utilise his strength and strike over 0.5 match sixes in this one.
IRELAND VS SOUTH AFRICA EXPERT PREDICTION
Even with players missing from their first-choice starting line-up, South Africa should still have more than enough in the tank to overcome Ireland. Conditions are likely to be extremely uncomfortable for both teams with the searing heat, but the Proteas players are likely to be more used to that than their opponents. When comparing the two teams though, it’s well worth backing South Africa to come out on top.
IRELAND VS SOUTH AFRICA TIP: SOUTH AFRICA TO WIN