Reece Topley: The 26-year old fast bowler will be playing international cricket for the first time since ICC World Twenty20 2016.
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During the second ODI of the ongoing Ireland’s tour of England in Southampton, Ireland have won the toss and elected to bat first. It will be the second consecutive time that the visitors will be batting first after Eoin Morgan asked them to bat in the first match.
“We will bat first. Look OK, it’s a used surface, we will need to bat well though, show better application with the bat.,” Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie said during the toss. With Ireland getting bundled out for 172 on the day before yesterday, they sure would be expecting their batsmen to put on display a better batting performance.
Ireland have made a lone change to their playing XI by Barry McCarthy with Joshua Little as the former suffered an injury whilst bowling his only over in the first match.
Who has Reece Topley replaced in today’s 2nd ODI?
As far as England are concerned, even they have tinkered with their winning combination by bringing in seamer Reece Topley in place of Tom Curran. It is worth mentioning that Topley had last played an international match during the ICC World Twenty20 2016 in Mumbai.
Hit by a serious back injury, the left-arm bowler will be reunited with David Willey for the pair has opened the bowling for England in the past as well. In 10 ODIs, Topley has picked 16 wickets at an average of 25.62, an economy rate of 5.32 and a strike rate of 28.9.
In the seven overs that Curran bowled in the first match, he gave away 37 runs for one wicket. While there’s nothing wrong with his fitness, the change is primarily a rotational one to give Topley a chance at the highest level.
