Previews: India v Ireland, England v Sri Lanka, South Africa v West Indies

The weather forecast is cloudy but fine for the Pretoria/Tshwane region for Thursday’s second round of matches in the 2005 Women’s Cricket World Cup.

India v Ireland at the Tshwane University of Technology

India has a 100% win record over Ireland in their five ODI meetings, two in World Cups and three in Ireland in 2002. India won by four wickets in their sixty over-per-side meeting in England in 1993, and in 2000 they won by 30 runs. India had the upper hand in Tuesday’s washout against Sri Lanka, while Ireland made an impressive start at Centurion, holding South Africa to 92 for 5 before the home side reached 204 for 7. India dropped a likely two or three points when the Sri Lanka game was abandoned. They should be much too good for Ireland.

South Africa v West Indies at Laudium

This is the first-ever meeting for South Africa and the West Indies in women’s cricket. They both competed in the 1997 World Cup but failed to cross paths. South Africa’s upper batting order would have been disappointed with their performance against Ireland on Tuesday. The West Indies probably would not have expected to hold New Zealand to 178 runs on Tuesday, but they were in trouble at 18 for 2 when the rain gave them a three-point gift. This should be a comfortable win for the home side.

England v Sri Lanka at Harlequins Cricket Club

Two resounding victories by England in their only two meetings with Sri Lanka to date: by nine wickets at Mohali in 1997, and by 105 runs at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in 2000, where Claire Taylor smashed 137 not out. England had a shaky start to their 2005 campaign against Australia on Tuesday, but three points for the washout will not be sneezed at. Sri Lanka were dismissed for 116 by India, and will also be happy with their rain-assisted gift. The England team is already in the final, if all the publicity is to be taken seriously. It will be worth seeing how close Sri Lanka can come today.

CricInfo and the Cricket South Africa websites are advertising live scores of the Australia-New Zealand, England-Sri Lanka and South Africa-West Indies games today, while Ananova, BBC Online and other UK-based sites are carrying only the England-Sri Lanka game. We’ll get updates from India v Ireland when available.

(Note: This article was originally written for the Cricketwoman website in 2005. It may contain links to Cricketarchive which have long since ceased to exist. Cricketwoman was a partner website of Cricketarchive at the time of the 2005 Womens World Cup. – RE, 2017-07-21)

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