Next up for England's cricketers is a T20I series in Ireland, and Richard Mann is on hand with his preview of Wednesday's opener.
Cricket betting tips: Ireland v England
2pts Craig Young top Ireland bowler at 3/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook)
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Mrs Mann was last night informed the central heating could not be turned on until Christmas week, before the heating was of course turned on. Yes, the summer is officially over.
But not quite for England cricket fans, with a three-match T20I tour of Ireland taking place this week despite attention having already turned towards this winter’s Ashes Down Under.
The Malahide Cricket Club in Dublin hosts all three fixtures and the weather forecast for Wednesday’s series opener (1.30pm start time) does look pretty good at the time of writing.
Taking a strong view on likely conditions isn’t easy, given possible overheads, but this hasn’t been a bad place to bat over the years and we have seen high scores on this ground in T20I and ODI cricket.
England still strong for Ireland trip
Jacob Bethell takes over from the rested Harry Brook for this series, captaining England for the first time, but England have still taken a very strong squad across the Irish Sea, with the likes of Jos Buttler and Phil Salt involved.
I was on the Buttler train in the top England batsman market in the preceding series against South Africa, but 83 wasn’t enough for him to win this market at Old Trafford on Friday and realistically, the rest of the top order will fancy their chances of having plenty of success this week.
The other thing to consider is that England might choose to experiment at some stage and Buttler could quite easily slip down to number three, or even sit out one of the games.
I’m happy to swerve that market for now, but if I get an inkling Sam Curran might bat in the England top four, I’d be looking at him closely if the price was right, given his brilliant form with the bat in The Hundred.
I gave serious consideration to backing Curtis Campher in the top Ireland batsman market at 13/2, with the view that he is just an excellent player who has so often performed rescue acts in the home middle order.
He has recent form, too, having made a big hundred in the One-Day Cup in England only last month.
However, it will be interesting to see how Ireland line up here, as I’d ideally like to see Campher bat at number four, something which I’m not sure will happen. I’ll sit this project out on this occasion.
What are the best bets?
CRAIG YOUNG doesn’t escape, though, and he is backed to be TOP IRELAND BOWLER at 3/1.
England are missing a few for this series, but so, too, are Ireland, namely a couple of their frontline bowlers, meaning Young will lead the attack.
I reckon he’ll do a pretty good job as well, given his strong T20I record: 84 wickets from 69 matches at an average of 21.94. In ODIs, he has 81 wickets from just 48 matches at 25.85.
I’ve always liked Young’s wicket-to-wicket style and bustling pace, and were it not for some injury problems, I think he’d have enjoyed an even better career than he has thus far.
Young picked up eight wickets in a three-match T20I series in Zimbabwe earlier in the year and with his more recent domestic form solid enough, he looks the answer.
His T20I strike-rate of 16.3 gives him a clear edge over his Ireland colleagues in this current squad.
Preview published at 1415 BST on 15/09/25
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