Cricket betting tips: England v Ireland Test preview and best bets for Lord's
England begin the Test summer when hosting Ireland at Lord's on Thursday – read Richard Mann's full preview here.
Cricket tips: England v Ireland Test
1pt Lorcan Tucker top Ireland first innings batsman at 11/2 (bet365)
2pts Lorcan Tucker to make a first innings fifty at 11/4 (Sky Bet)
3pts Mark Adair top Ireland first-innings bowler at 3/1 (Star Sports)
The English Test summer is finally upon us, an Ashes summer no less in which expectation is high ahead of one of the most eagerly-anticipated series in recent times.
That’s all to come, but before that Australia will play India in the ICC World Test Championship final at the Oval next week, and England warm up for the Ashes with a Test match against Ireland at Lord’s which begins on Thursday.
England won by 143 runs in the corresponding fixture in 2019, but only after they had been bowled out for 85 when batting first and Ireland then made a mess of their second innings run chase and were knocked over for just 38.
92 from Jack Leach in England’s second innings ultimately saved the hosts’ blushes, before Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad finished the job with the ball, sharing 10 second innings wickets as Ireland fluffed their lines badly in pursuit of a victory target of 182.
Much has changed four years on. England are certainly in a better place following a brilliant 12 months that has seen them rejuvenated under the leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. Bazball has most certainly captured the imagination and so far, it has yielded results on the pitch.
England’s previously timid batting line-up, freed up and encouraged to attack, has produced a series of stunning blitzes, firstly last summer and then in the winter as they floored the likes of New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan.
Fringe seamers to make Ashes case at Lord's
The bowling has been excellent, both home and away, but there have been concerning developments in recent weeks. Jofra Archer has been ruled out for the summer with a recurrence of the elbow injury that has plagued him over the past two years, Ollie Stone tore a hamstring playing Championship cricket for Nottinghamshire, and James Anderson and Ollie Robinson are both likely to be rested for this match following injury scares.
That means Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts and Chris Woakes are likely to be the three frontline seamers for Lord’s, with late call-up Josh Tongue carrying the drinks, and Ireland’s batsmen will certainly be breathing a sigh of relief now not having to worry about tackling Anderson and Robinson on the back of some outstanding displays for their counties in recent weeks.
Another potential weak spot for England is the generally excellent and powerful middle order. Very little game-time for Joe Root and Ben Stokes at the IPL means they come into the first Test of the summer potentially undercooked, while Harry Brook’s experience of India was largely disappointing. Having earned the nod over Ben Foakes, designated gloveman Jonny Bairstow would have liked to have made more runs for Yorkshire since making his return from a serious leg injury, though that was probably to be expected after such a long layoff.
In essence, England’s batsmen will look to use this week as an opportunity to spend some valuable time in the middle and get back into the rhythm of Test match batting, while the bowling attack selected will be keen to lay down their own individual markers before selection for the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
That should mean England’s players will be taking this Test and their opposition very seriously, even with one eye sure to be on what is to come, but the tourists have some real talent in their own ranks and have been busy of late following tours of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and then a ODI series against Bangladesh on these shores.
Versatile Tucker can prove worth on biggest stage
While I don’t envisage them winning the game, Ireland might be capable of pushing England close and I’m really keen to side with LORCAN TUCKER, a player I have an awful lot of time for.
Though approaching his 27th birthday, it feels like Tucker’s international career has only really taken off in the last 12 months – a dazzling 71 not out from 48 balls against hosts Australia at the T20 World Cup in October announcing himself on the big stage.
Since then, Tucker demonstrated his versatility by compiling a masterful 108 in a Test match against Bangladesh in Mirpur, defying a strong home attack in alien batting conditions to register his first Test hundred.
Scores of 45 and 80 followed in Sri Lanka and I really do think we might be witnessing the blossoming of a very fine international career. He’s certainly not a novice by any stretch, but it has evidently taken a while for the penny to drop, and a century and a fifty from three Tests so far suggests he really enjoys this format.
It’s Tucker’s versatility that really stands out to me. We’ve seen many a young player excel at home but then take an age to find a workable method away from home, particularly in Asia. Tucker has taken down the pace and bounce of Australia, and then the craft and guile of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka's spinners in the space of just a few months.
Tucker warmed up for Thursday with a fine 97 in the first innings of Ireland's tour match win over Essex at Chelmsford, and though plenty of the away batsmen enjoyed themselves on a pitch always full of runs, I reckon the selection will be at an advantage at Lord's.
The main reason for that is because the middle order was unequivocally the best place to bat in Test matches played in England last summer. Housed in the middle order, Root, Bairstow, Stokes and Foakes all made hay, as did the likes of Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Rishabh Pant and Ravi Jadeja after the top order of teams home and away struggled badly.
If that theme continues this week, Tucker could be in business coming in at number six and I’m very keen to take the 11/2 (bet365) about the Dubliner in the top Ireland first innings batsman market, and the 11/4 on offer with Sky Bet for him to make a first innings fifty.
Adair the best bet from Ireland attack
Elsewhere, MARK ADAIR looks a solid bet for top Ireland first innings bowler.
With no Josh Little in the Ireland squad due to IPL commitments, and Tim Murtagh now retired, Adair will be Ireland’s main man with the ball this week, and it’s worth remembering that he bowled brilliantly on this very ground when claiming six wickets against England in 2019.
Still a fair way south of 30, Adair is an even better bowler nowadays. A tall man who can seam and swing the ball, Adair has enjoyed plenty of success in white and red-ball cricket of late, toiling hard in Test matches in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and then helping himself to seven wickets in three ODIs against Bangladesh at Chelmsford more recently.
The Holywood native sat out the aforementioned warm-up against Essex, a wise move given his heavy workload in recent months, and I'm expecting him to bowl very well this week, hitting the seam hard from back of a length and probing away at that fourth stump line.
It's the very essence of how to bowl at Lord's, in the same way Anderson and Broad have operated here for a number of years now, and to my mind Adair fits the bill perfectly. As such, anything like the 3/1 available with Star Sports is must-bet material.
Preview posted at 1850 BST on 29/05/2023
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