Ireland vs USA Prediction: History could be rewritten

At the Bulawayo Athletic Club, in the ICC World Cup Qualification matches, the United States of America and Ireland will compete against one another for the first time since December 2021. Although they are in poor form going into this encounter, Ireland are still the favorites, according to the bookies. The United States of America, on the other hand, will be certain that they will not lose their guard despite being the underdogs as they look ahead to the major competition later this year. 

Even though Ireland is the betting favorite to win this match, their most recent performances have not been something to write home about, and there is a significant amount of uncertainty about how well this team is capable of performing. Despite this, their expectations are high that they will be able to show improved composure and triumph over their most recent setbacks.

In recent competitions, Ireland has only been victorious once, and that victory came against Bangladesh in a game that was decided by a score of 124-126 in late March of this year. However, during that streak, the Green and Whites have suffered a total of ten defeats, seven of which were at the hands of Bangladesh, two of which were at the hands of Sri Lanka, and their most recent defeat was at the hands of England, which was decided by a score of 536-534. In fact, going into this pivotal matchup, the Green and Whites had lost their last six consecutive matches in a row.

Ireland, however, announced a formidable 15-man roster to compete in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, which will feature 10 teams. Andrew Balbirnie will serve as the captain of a formidable Ireland team that includes Mark Adair, Josh Little, Craig Young, Barry McCarthy, Graham Hume, and Curtis Campher as potential pace alternatives. In spite of this, they have decided to play Ben White, who just very recently made his debut in a test match in Bangladesh, taking into account the conditions.

There is no clear explanation why the bookmakers have the United States of America pegged as the underdog in its first match, but going into the match, there are enormous expectations placed on them to do well. Having done exceptionally well in their most recent matches, the United States of America will be hoping that they can beat a struggling Ireland team that has beaten them three times out of the four occasions that they have competed against each other.

The United States of America will come into this qualifier having won four of their previous five matches, with their lone defeat coming at the hands of Canada in a match that ended with a score of 198-172. However, their recent victories were against Namibia, the United Arab Emirates, Papua New Guinea, and Jersey, with scores of 212-211, 279–281, 118–235, and 206-231, respectively, in each of those matches. In the meantime, the United States of America is currently riding a three-game winning streak, which they will attempt to extend here.

The only new member of the 14-person squad that triumphed in the Qualifier Playoff in Namibia in April was a left-arm seamer, Abhishek Paradkar. Due to his obligations with Hampshire's county side, medium-pace all-rounder Ian Holland, who was an integral part of the United States' run in the three-year-long Cricket World Cup League 2 ODI tournament for Associates, will not be able to participate in the World Cup Qualifier.

In spite of their awful run of losses, I still believe that it is understandable why Ireland is the favorite to win here, given that those losses were against good teams, but then they did not perform up to task. In the meantime, United States victories came against inferior opponents or teams playing below their ability. Despite the fact that I think this game might go either way, I will still be betting on Ireland to win this match as the favorite and also on the coin toss.