IRE vs ZIM Weather Report And Pitch Report Of Belfast Stadium- Zimbabwe tour of Ireland 2024, One-Off Test

Belfast will host the IRE vs ZIM one-off Test from July 25-29. The match starts at 3.15 pm IST across the five days. This Test match is not a part of the ongoing WTC 2023-245 campaign.

Ireland started playing cricket in 2018. They are led by Andrew Balbirnie. Having played Test matches against Pakistan, England, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan, this is the first time they are playing a Test series against Zimbabwe. However, they have just won one Test match which was against Afghanistan.

Zimbabwe have been playing Test cricket since the early 90s but still has yet to post itself as a challenging Test side. They made their Test debut against India in 1992.

Since then they have played 117 Test matches having won just 13 losing 75 and drawing 29 Test matches. Zimbabwe lost their last One-Off Test against West Indies by 1-0 while Ireland had lost the away Test series against Bangladesh recently.

Currently, Ireland are placed 11th in the ICC Test rankings while Zimbabwe is 10th. The two teams have played 22 ODIs and 15 T20Is between themselves but this is the very first Test match between the two sides.

Both teams need to show a lot more consistency in Tets cricket to play against the top-class sides more regularly in the format. The landscape of Test cricket is changing with teams playing more aggressively like England and these two sides need to learn from them.

IRE vs ZIM Weather Report And Pitch Report Of Belfast Stadium- Zimbabwe tour of Ireland 2024, One-Off Test

IRE vs ZIM Weather Report Of Belfast

The Test match starts at 10. 45 am local time in Belfast. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the five days does not look good. Dark clouds are expected every day alongside rain. The temperatures will be around 19-20 degrees. Chances of rain are over 50 percent every day.

IRE vs ZIM Pitch Analysis

The venue has hosted ODI and T20I matches previously. The average first innings score in ODIs is around 200 but the highest total posted is 305.

The highest total chased in ODIs is 245. Given this is a five-day Test match, the groundsmen need to ensure that they prepare a pitch that lasts the five days. Conditions should suit swing and seam bowlers early on and then gradually will favor the spinners.

Weather Impact on IRE vs ZIM One-Off Test, 2024

Rain is likely to play spoilsport throughout the Test match. There is a prediction of rain across all five days of the Test match. Dark Clouds are overhead conditions that are expected to hover above the skies.

The temperatures will be between 19-20 degrees which means that the conditions will be cold enough for the players as well. Both teams will need to adjust themselves to the conditions.

Conclusion

After playing white-ball cricket against each other for a long time, this is the first Test match between the two sides. Their ICC rankings are almost irrelevant to where their Test cricket stands at the moment. Hopefully, this is the first of many Test matches to follow between the two sides.