Both teams looking for first points

Fri, 07 June 2024

19:47

Ireland captain Paul Sterling has won the toss and invited Canada to bat first in their Group A match at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York, on Friday.

There has been rain overnight and the outfield is expected to be slow.

The drop in pitch, that has invited plenty of criticism, will continue to help seamers with bounce and movement.

Will be interesting to see which of these two teams bags their first points today.

Both Ireland and Canada will be under pressure to notch up their maiden win in the tournament and garner points after having lost their respective first matches.

While Ireland were comprehensively beaten by India by eight wickets earlier this week, Canada were trounced by a spirited USA by seven wickets in a high-scoring contest at Dallas.

For this contest, the groundsmen have taken off additional grass from the pitch and rolled it hard for the batters to have their say but some movement off the surface is still expected.

Ireland and Canada have both made one change each to their playing XIs.

Playing XIs:

Canada: Aaron Johnson, Navneet Dhaliwal, Pargat Singh, Nicholas Kirton, Shreyas Movva(w), Dilpreet Bajwa, Saad Bin Zafar(c), Dillon Heyliger, Kaleem Sana, Junaid Siddiqui, Jeremy Gordon

Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie, Paul Stirling(c), Lorcan Tucker(w), Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Craig Young

Ireland, reeling from a heavy defeat against India, will face a hungry Canada in a crucial T20 World Cup Group A encounter on Friday. Both teams are looking to bounce back after opening losses.

Ireland, despite boasting seasoned batters like Andy Balbirnie, Paul Stirling, and Harry Tector, were skittled out for a meagre total against India. They'll be desperate to learn from their mistakes and salvage their World Cup campaign.

Canada, though coming off a defeat to the USA, will be buoyed by their 10-wicket victory over Ireland in the 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifiers. Captain Navneet Dhaliwal, a key player in that win, will be crucial for their chances.

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