Ireland face South Africa in the 33rd match of the World Cup at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. A win here will take South Africa to the top of the Group B standings.
Ireland have performed well in this tournament and have been the best of the Associate nations with a surprise win over England and a superb fight back against India. Although they will be facing one of the favorites to win the tournament, they are expected to give the South Africans a run for their money.
You can watch the World Cup Ireland v South Africa live match on Star Cricket and ESPN in India. You can also watch Ireland v South Africa highlights on the same channels after the game gets over. You can also click on the widget on the right side of this page to watch the game live online.
South Africa are on a high after their thrilling three wicket win over India and are looking confident enough to move up to the first place in Group B. There has been no question on their top order batting with Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and JP Duminy striking rich form during the tournament. However, they would like their senior batsman Jacques Kallis to score few runs and get back into the form, which is crucial for the knockout matches.
The bowling has been good and they have been successful in dismissing their opponents well within the allotted 50 overs in all their matches thus far. Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir have been the main wicket-takers for them with Morne Morkel and Johan Botha providing good support. Going by their form, they are expected to win comfortably tomorrow.
Ireland have not surrendered easily to their opponents in this series and would hope to repeat their heroics against England. Their batting looks decent and well-equipped to combat the Steyn-Morkel threat. William Porterfield, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien and Gary Wilson have shown their batting skills and the South Africans will have their tasks cut out if at least two of these batsmen come out good.
Bowling has never been a strong point for Ireland but they have managed to play within their limits and have caused enough problems with the lack-of-pace bowling tactics.
