To secure a spot in the forthcoming ICC World Cup in India the South African cricket team will have a keen eye when the touring Bangladesh take on the host Ireland in the opener of three one-day internationals in Chelmsford today.
The match, which is part of the ICC World Cup Super League, will kick-off at 3:45 p.m., and ICC TV will televise the tie live.
As per the guidelines provided by the ICC, if the Proteas want to qualify for the approaching global event starting in October-November this year in India, Ireland have to lose at least one or two ties against the touring Tigers.
On the other hand, if the Irish can clean sweep the visitors by 3-0 with a better run rate, that would see the knockout of South Africa along with paving their way to secure a spot in marquee contention, which surely would be a matter of huge shock for their devotees across the globe.
The former semifinalists, who are on the brink of the World Cup following their fresh 2-0 ODI series win over the Netherlands at home that placed them eighth, now have no choice but to wait for at least one loss of the Irish by the touring Bangladesh.
Ireland are holding the tenth position with 68 points from 24 games, including six wins and 13 loses.
However, Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal expressed his desire to win the series over the home side on Sunday, although they couldn’t take proper preparation ahead of the series due to inclement weather conditions in England that washed away their lone warm-up tie against the Ireland Wolves on Friday.
‘Things [rain] are not under our control. May be we couldn’t do our best preparation because of the rough weather. We are aiming for a sole objective, and that is playing better cricket and winning,’ said Tamim.
With the upcoming World Cup in mind, the wins undeniably would boost their morale and aid them to continue the momentum that they gained with some thrashing wins over their Ireland counterparts at home in the most liked format.
Conversely, Ireland, who also registered a few impressive wins against Zimbabwe during their tour of the African nation and also against the touring New Zealand at their den, will be desperate to fight neck-to-neck against the Tigers as well.
Ireland, who toured Zimbabwe in the early part of the year, drew the three match one-day international series 1-1.
And earlier in January 2022, they sealed the three ODI matches by 2-1 against their West Indies counterpart.
