Friday, March 11, 2011

Ban vs Eng: England three down, Bangladesh on top

Mohammad Mahmudullah gave Bangladesh their third breakthrough when he had Ian Bell caught by Naeem Islam at mid-wicket in their World Cup clash at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium in Chittagong on Friday.

Scorecard

England got off to a poor start as they lost Matt Prior and captain Andrew Strauss early.

England lost their makeshift opener Matt Prior in the eighth over as he was stumped by Mushfiqur Rahim off Abdur Razzak.

Naeem Islam then struck to have Strauss caught by Junaid Siddique in the slips to place England at 39/2 in 10.3 overs.

Earlier, Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and chose to bowl.

For England, Paul Collingwood, Ajmal Shahzad and Eoin Morgan come in place of Michael Yardy, Stuart Broad and Kevin Pietersen.

For Bangladesh, Mohammad Mahmudullah replaces Mohammad Ashraful.

It is a typical sub-continent wicket, good for batting but will get slower as the game progresses. Dew might play a factor later on in the evening.

The sun is beating down at Chittagong with the temperature hovering around 30 degrees Celsius and humidity is in the mid-40s.

England were floored by the departure of star batsman Kevin Pietersen and fast bowler Stuart Broad on successive days due to injuries as they prepared for the Bangladesh game.

Pietersen flew home on Monday for hernia surgery, while Broad was ruled out for the rest of the tournament on Tuesday due to a side strain suffered during the six-run win over South Africa.

A win on Friday should be enough for England to advance to the knock-out rounds as they have five points from four Group B matches.

Bangladesh, facing an early exit from the tournament after just one win in three games, will look to resurrect their campaign.

Bangladesh must not only beat England, but also defeat the Netherlands and South Africa to cement a place in the quarterfinals.

Two more wins could also see them through, provided other results go in their favour.

Andrew Strauss' men will be buoyed by their impressive run against Bangladesh, having lost just one of their 14 one-day internationals so far.

Significantly, England have also won all their six contests on Bangladeshi soil, the last three in March, 2010.

Bangladesh have been let down by their inconsistent batsmen, who began the tournament well by making 283/9 while chasing India's mammoth 370/4.

The Tigers were shot out for 205 by Ireland, fought back to restrict the non-Test nation for 178, before hitting a new low against the West Indies.

Opener Tamim Iqbal and skipper Shakib Al Hasan are the only batsmen to score half-centuries in the tournament, both against India. The next best is Raqibul Hasan's 38 against Ireland.

Spin spearhead Abdur Razzak has managed just one wicket in three games at a cost of 112 runs. Shakib has three wickets with his left-arm spin and off-break bowler Naeem Islam two.

No comments: