Ireland, Scotland, West Indies and Zimbabwe will contest Group B in the first round of the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup for the right to reach the Super 12 stage.
Ireland
Ireland are a regular feature at ICC events and as always they'll be looking for a collective effort and reach the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup.
They won the 5 match series against Afghanistan recently but lost the warm up match against Namibia.
As always, they'll depend on Paul Stirling to give them a brisk start. Harry Tector in the middle order is a very talented hard hitting young batsman I'm looking forward to seeing in this world cup.
Experienced hands of Little, McCarthy and Adair will lead their charge with medium fast bowling while Delaney and Simi Singh will shore up the spin department.
They'll have to be on top of their game if they are to progress to the next round.
Scotland
Scotland, like Ireland, are regulars at ICC events and they did exceedingly well in the last edition by progressing out of the qualifier stage.
They made respectable totals against New Zealand recently although they lost both games but they defeated Netherlands in their warm up game quite comfortably.
They will depend on Berrington to inspire them like last time as he's their most dependable and consistent batsman.
Watt, Greaves and Leask are their main bowlers all very adept at different kinds of spin. The trio is also capable of batting with meaningful contributions down the order.
West Indies
West Indies, 2 time champions in the shortest format will have to play the qualifiers to progress to the main round.
Their recent form has been shaky with losses to Australia, New Zealand and India in the T20 format. They won their warm up match against UAE although not without some difficulty.
They've again left out Russell, Narine while Hetmyer was left out because of discipline issues having missed his flight twice.
WI still boast of some great batsmen suited to this format in Evin Lewis, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers & their skipper Nicholas Pooran. They will however need to click as a unit and show consistency if West Indies are to make a deep run into the tournament.
They also have some of the hardest hitting all rounders in Odean Smith, Rovman Powell and Jason Holder.
Cottrel, McCoy and Akeal make up for their bowling giving the whole team a well rounded look.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe, after missing out last time, are back with the big boys! And they come into the tournament with decent form behind them having recently beaten Australia in an ODI and running India close just before that.
Their batting will depend largely on Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams and Craig Ervine while Chatara, Ngarva and Burl are their main weapons with the ball.
T20 World Cup 2022 Qualifier format
The top two teams will progress from the group after all four have played against each other once in the round-robin format, kicking off with Scotland taking on West Indies on October 17
All the matches will be played at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
The winners of the group will join current India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa and the Group A runners-up in Group 1 of the Super 12 stage.
The team who finishes second will join current champions and hosts Australia, England, New Zealand, Afghanistan and the Group A winners in Group 2.
Predictions from Qualifier Group B
1st West Indies Q
2nd Zimbabwe Q
3rd Ireland
4th Scotland
Quite frankly, this Group of death is almost impossible to predict how it'll eventually go. All 4 teams look equally matched. Should be some very good competitive cricket from this group.
Who will make it out of the group to the Super 12, do leave your predictions in the comment section.
Click here to read about Group A Preview
