1 year ago
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An early email wings in from Martin Wright:
“Well this is an almost civilised time of day for a touch of pretending-to-work-while-actually-having-1.75-eyes-on-the-cricket... Is it just me, or has there been an outbreak of cup inflation across the sporting arena in the last few years? Once upon a time, a winner’s cup was something you could hold in one hand and put on a mantelpiece. I guess sponsors demand something bigger, brighter and brasher. And mantelpieces are so 19th century...”
Morning Martin! [looks at mantlepiece, nervously]… you’re totally right, every trophy apart from the Ashes. Though I seem to remember there is a large glass crystal trophy that they sometimes roll out even there…
Steven Finn and Tymal Mills are looking perky in the Sky studio, where Jason Roy is under the microscope. They pull out his stats – in the last 29 matches he averages 29 at a strike rate of 99; in his previous 84 his average was in the forties and strike rate over 100.
Bangladesh XI
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal (c), Litton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman.
Tamim Iqbal returns after a groin strain.
England XI
England: Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Dawid Malan, James Vince, Jos Buttler (c, wk), Will Jacks, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood.
An ODI debut for Will Jacks.
Bangladesh wins the toss and will bat
Morning all!
Tamin Iqbal throws the coin and is happy. “It looks an ok wicket but in the second half it might spin a little bit and go up and down. England are a brilliant team and we just need to give it our best shot.”
Our man in Bangladesh, Simon Burnton, with his preview of the series:
Sleeping through the Test:
Preamble
Hello again! Yesterday Wellington, today the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka for the first match of England’s white ball tour of Bangladesh.
England will play three ODIs and three T20s over the next two weeks, concluding a congested winter programme. But while England’s Test team won four of their five overseas Tests, the white-ball side has been more off key, with the ODI team losing eight of their last ten matches.
Seven years since their last visit, England have arrived in Bangladesh. But they would be unwise to consider this a rich pasture land for resetting the winning programme ahead of defending the ODI World Cup in India later this year. Bangladesh have won their last seven ODI series at home, beating India and Australia amongst others, while England have lost eight out of 15 games since Jos Buttler took over from Eoin Morgan last summer. There is lots for players to work towards, the clock is ticking and this is the last white-ball outing for England until the leaves start to turn in September.
England are without Harry Brook and Ben Duckett, on loan to Ben Stokes, but Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood and Jofra Archer are fit and fancy free, and Rehan Ahmed is on his first ODI tour, under the tutelage of Adil Rashid. Bangladesh’s well-honed and full strength squad includes Tamin Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan, just back from a family emergency in the USA.
The pitch will take turn, the early start an attempt to avoid the heavy dew that falls after dusk. Play starts at 6am GMT, see you there with a cup of something caffeinated.
English (US)