Ireland look to regain pride as England aim for whitewash at Rose Bowl

Rose Bowl: World champions England will be all pumped up as they go out all guns blazing looking for their first series whitewash post COVID-19 lockdowns against the visitors Ireland as they play the 3^rd and final ODI at The Rose Bowl, Southampton on Tuesday.

The visitors are yet to register a victory in the three – match ODI series against the hosts. Although England have sealed the series with a 2-0 lead, Ireland will look to regain some pride by ending the series on a high with a win which otherwise has been a rather disappointing one so far.

The English boys showed some excellent team work to clinch a victory by four wickets over the Irish boys in the 2^nd ODI and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

While Player Of the Match Johnny Bairstow took the Irish bowlers to the cleaners on his way to a breathtaking 82 of just 41 deliveries giving the hosts a blistering start, middle order batsmen Sam Billings and David Willey carved a beautiful 79* runs partnership making sure England go past the target without any major hiccups.

Coming into the 3^rd ODI, England might try the likes of Liam Livingstone and Liam Dawson just to give them an opportunity. On the other hand the concerns for the visitors do not seem to end as quality players like Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirine have failed to deliver when required and are yet to fire in the competition.

With scores of 2(4), 12(20) and 3(7), 15(28) respectively in the first two matches by these two power hitters have pushed the Ireland team management to do some deep thinking. For Ireland to put up a competitive show the likes of Stirling, Balbirine and Kevin O’Brien will need to show some responsibility and not leave everything on the young shoulders of Curtis Campher, who seems to be hitting a purple patch at the moment. Campher has scored back to back half centuries in the first two ODIs with scores of 59* and 68 respectively and has also contributed well with the ball with figures of 1/26 and 2/50 respectively, probably the only positive out of this series for Ireland until now.

Toss and Pitch Conditions:

The 3^rd ODI will be played on a fresh new strip which is expected to be a batting belter combined with an afternoon start and a pleasant 20 degree Celsius temperature meaning a very little atmospheric assistance for the bowlers early on.

The given conditions are ideal for a win the toss and bat first situation but given the outcomes of the first two matches where the chasing teams went past the targets with ease might tempt the captains to choose otherwise.

The match starts at 6:30 pm IST and can be viewed on the SONY TEN network.

POSSIBLE TEAMS :

England: (possible) 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 James Vince / Liam Livingstone, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Sam Billings, 6 Tom Banton, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 David Willey, 9 Tom Curran, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Saqib Mahmood

Ireland: (possible) 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Gareth Delany, 3 Andy Balbirnie (capt), 4 Harry Tector, 5 Kevin O’Brien, 6 Lorcan Tucker (wk), 7 Curtis Campher, 8 Simi Singh/George Dockrell, 9 Andy McBrine, 10 Craig Young, 11 Josh Little

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