England are set to host Ireland cricket team for a two-match ODI series, with the first game scheduled for Friday at County Ground in Bristol. This series could act as some good match practice for England before the massive Champions Trophy in June.
England are going to miss some of their key players including Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, who have been given the permission to play in ongoing IPL 2017. But, the likes of Eoin Morgan, Sam Billings and Jason Roy have been called for international duty.
They are a brilliant ODI side, and with Morgan leading a young side, the players have responded well in the recent past. The current bunch of England players are fearless and like to express themselves, which had led to some entertaining cricket as well.
Despite the absence of Buttler and Stokes, they have some incredible talent in their team, and with Roy and Alex Hales expected to open the innings, there will be some fireworks. Morgan and the rest of the batsmen in the middle order will look to capitalise on that start. Coming to their bowling, that is also their other strength with the likes of David Willey, Steve Finn and Adil Rashid as their key bowlers for the series.
Overall, England look solid in all departments of the game, and they should not have much problems in getting past Ireland, who will go all out to beat the home team.
Ireland have always been one of the strongest associate teams in world cricket, and they have the same core players for some years now, which should help them. They have experienced players like Ed Joyce, Paul Stirling, Kevin O'Brien and Niall O'Brien, who will need to play their best against England in order to come up with a stunning win.
However, they cannot depend on these mentioned players only. Cricket is a team game. All other players have to stand up and deliver against England.
The key question remains – can they outshine a strong England team?
Where to watch live
England vs Ireland 1st ODI is scheduled for 11 am local time (3:30 p.m IST) start. Here is live TV and streaming information for the match.
India - TV: Star Sports 1/HD. Live Streaming: Hostar.com
UK: TV:Sky Sports 2/HD. Live Streaming: Sky Go
