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Following a ground-breaking Test series in Sri Lanka, Ireland return to home shores for a three-game One Day International (ODI) series with Bangladesh as #11 takes on #7 in the ODI world rankings.
All three games will take place in England at Chelmsford, home of Essex County Cricket Club. The first game is on Tuesday, May 9 with the subsequent games scheduled for Friday, May 12 and Sunday May 14.
There is very little surprise that Bangladesh are favoured to win the opening contest (4/9), but the match handicap at –28.5 (runs) looks enticing at Evens should the visitors bat first. Bangladesh have won six of their last 10 ODSs, including a 2-0 series victory over Ireland in March at Syhlet Stadium.
Ireland are the 13/8 outsider for the first game. The hosts have won just one of their past nine contests, and a 2-1 series win over West Indies in January 2022 was their last performance of note on the ODI scene.
Bangladesh are spear-headed by all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan who has scored 7,086 runs in the format and taken 301 wickets. He's currently ranked the number one all-rounder in the format - #9 in bowling and #26 with the bat.
Al Hasan has taken at least one wicket in nine straight contests and in 15 in his last 16. In that time he has six two-wicket hauls, one four-wicket haul and two five-for efforts. With the bat he has three 50s in his last four innings – including a 93 against Ireland in March. He is 7/2 to be Bangladesh's Top Batter – great value - and 13/5 to be Top Bowler.
Other batting options include Tamim Iqbal (3/1) and Litton Das (15/4). Iqbal failed to pass 41 in any of his knocks against Ireland in March and has failed to reach 50 in his past seven innings. Prior to that he had notched four half centuries in six innings. Meanwhile Das scored 26, 70 and 50* in March's series against the same opposition.
With the ball, Mustafizur Rahman (5/2) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (3/1) are the main betting options along with Al Hasan. Rahman will likely enjoy the swing-favourable condition of England, so his record of just three wickets in seven ODIs can be somewhat overlooked. If the pitch is conducive to spin, Miraz has eight wickets in six games, and has six multi-wicket performances in 12 matches.
Ireland's highest ranked batters in the world rankings are limited to Andrew Balbirnie (15/4, Top Ireland Batter) (44) when it comes to the top 100. He struggled in the March series with scores of 5 and 6. Outside of a mammoth 121* against Zimbabwe in January, Balbirnie has record six single figure scores in seven games.
Paul Stirling leads the betting at 10/3, and he is slightly better form. Scores of 7, 22, 45, 13 and 120 in his last five games. On the bowling front Joshua Little (ranked #36 in the world), Mark Adair (#61) and Craig Young (#72) provide a number of options with the ball.
Little took five wickets in the March series against Bangladesh and he has four multi-wicket performances in 10 games – six of those games on foreign soil. Adair has taken at least one wicket in seven of his last eight and Young – perhaps the best value option, has 12 wickets in his last six games.
