Australia vs Ireland Preview & Prediction

If IRE Bat First

Predicted Score: 200-250

The opening pair of Paul Stirling and skipper William Porterfield along with the O'Brien brothers are the ones who can take Ireland to a respectable first-innings total. Porterfield has a hundred at this ground while Niall O'Brien had scored 45 in his last innings against Australia. Kevin O'Brien, however, is more likely to score the most runs for Ireland. He was the third-highest run-scorer in the Afghanistan series and has an unbeaten 89 in his only innings at this ground.

Australia are left handicapped in the pace department without the services of their main strike bowlers - Starc, Hazlewood, Faulkner and Coulter-Nile. Scott Boland and John Hastings will be heading the seam attack with rookies Chris Tremain, Daniel Worrall and Joe Mennie competing for a place. Adam Zampa, the leggie, will also be relied upon heavily for wickets. Hastings, who took nine wickets in three matches against Sri Lanka including a best of 6/45, should be backed for the Australia top bowler.

AUS vs IRE Head-to-Head in ODIs

Australia and Ireland have faced each other in four one-day internationals in the past with the current head-to-head stats reading 3-0 in favor of the former. One of these matches did not produce a result. 

The two teams met for the very first time in the 'Super Eight' stage of the ICC World Cup 2007 in the Caribbean and Australia ended up winning that contest by nine wickets. Their most recent ODI encounter came last year in August when Australia defeated Ireland on their turf by 23 runs (D/L method).

Our Prediction

Australia are the five-time World Cup champions and are currently the number 1 team in one-day internationals. They are going strong in this format having beaten Sri Lanka 4-1 in really testing conditions and finishing as the best side in the West Indies tri-nation series prior to that. They have won 13 out of the 19 completed ODIs this year and will be coming off the back of wins in their previous three matches.

But on Tuesday, they won't be having their four frontline seam specialists with them, which Ireland will certainly be looking to take full advantage of when they come out to bat. And if the Irish batters are able to conjure up something special against a relatively weakened Australian bowling attack, they might as well fancy their chances.

Nevertheless, the gap between the two teams still seems to be very large and despite Australia having lost a lot of fizz in its bowling, we predict them to start off their tour on a winning note.