Friday T20 World Cup match predictions and cricket betting tips

Free cricket tips, best bets and analysis for Friday's matches in the T20 World Cup in Australia.

Where to watch

Scotland v Zimbabwe
Sky Sports Cricket & Main Event, 9am Friday

West Indies v Ireland
Sky Sports Cricket & Main Event, 5am Friday

Best bet

P Stirling to score under 20.5 runs for Ireland v West Indies
2pts 5-6 Betfair

Friday's betting preview

The race to reach the Super 12 phase of the Twenty20 World Cup has gone down to the wire in Group B and the formula is simple for all four teams involved - win and you are in.

Scotland, Zimbabwe, West Indies and Ireland have each won one and lost one of their opening two assignments and are currently separated by just net run rate.

With rain forecast in Hobart on Friday, if both matches are a wash out then it is Scotland and Zimbabwe who would advance to face the elite.

The Windies and Ireland will be hoping that a superior net run rate doesn’t come into account and they get the ball rolling in a winner-takes-all clash at the Bellerive Oval early on Friday morning.

Having slipped to a shock 42-run defeat to Scotland in their curtain-raiser, Windies responded with the pressure on to achieve a 31-run win over Zimbabwe, which was the same margin of victory recorded by the Chevrons in their opening win over Ireland.

Ireland also bounced back to silence Scotland in a six-wicket victory on Wednesday but had Curtis Campher and George Dockrell, who put on a superb 119-run stand, to thank for the victory.

The Green and Whites had found themselves at 29-2 in that contest and were also 22-4 in their defeat to Zimbabwe, suggesting Windies’ bowling attack could prosper against an underperforming top order.

Ireland’s star opener Paul Stirling looks short on confidence, just as he did domestically in The Hundred for Southern Brave, and has made a total of just eight runs from his two innings in Australia.

Betfair pitch Stirling’s total runs at 20.5 but on current evidence that looks too high.

The match-up between Scotland and Zimbabwe promises to be a cracker and it is tough to call, although vastly experienced all-rounder Sikandar Raza looks vital to the Chevrons' chances.

Having made 82 off just 48 balls in the win over Ireland, off-spinner Raza then took 3-19 from his four overs against the Windies.

It could, therefore, be worth considering going over on Raza’s player performance, where players score one point per run, 20 points per wicket and ten points per catch. However, that market had not yet been formed late on Wednesday evening.

England have suffered a blow ahead of Saturday’s T20 World Cup opener with Afghanistan, losing left-armer Reece Topley from the competition to injury. Tymal Mills has been drafted in as his Topley's replacement.

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