Adelaide, Australia (BBN)-Bangladesh is ready to take England in Adelaide Monday which is regarded as a real test for Tigers.
The 33rd match of the ICC Cricket World Cup is scheduled to begin at 9:30am (BST) at the Adelaide Oval in Australia.
A win in the match for Bangladesh would take side into quarter-finals.
For Bangladesh it is not quite do or die, as they have a 3 point lead with a game in hand.
But considering their final match is against the red hot Kiwi’s, they are better off treating the England match as their knockout game!
On the other hand, England would hope to keep its World Cup campaign alive with a victory over Bangladesh.
As it is a must-win game for England and anything less would be elimination.
“It is a battle of nerves of course, but we saw what happened against Sri Lanka when we were too excited. England have definitely more experience of playing under this kind of pressure, so you can’t tell what might happen. We are obviously excited to play tomorrow and will be giving it our best shot, Mashrafe Mortaza, the captain of Bangladesh team, said during an interview on the eve of the real-test match.
Cricbuzz adds: The equation is pretty simple. If England beat Bangladesh in the ICC World Cup 2015 on Monday, their campaign is alive and if they don’t they will have to pack their bags.
This is also Bangladesh’s golden opportunity to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.
If Bangladesh could beat England – with New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka fairly certain to take the first three spots – the fourth and last spot will surely be theirs.
Considering their next opponents are the undefeated New Zealand, England – on its current form – look like the team against which the Bangladeshis could fancy themselves.
England’s next opponents will be Afghanistan, against whom they should have no difficulty, so tomorrow’s match – to all intents and purposes – is the last match in Pool A with real value.
FIVE KEYS FOR TIGERS FOR THIS DECISIVE GAME
1. The Toss: In the last 10 games played at Adelaide Oval, 8 times the captain winning the toss decided to bat. Batting first is usually a mantra at Adelaide given the good batting surface and tendency of the ball to move more under the lights than the sun, adds Bangladesh Cricket Board.
2. The Ali-Root-Bell Factor
Off late, English batting seems to be heavily reliant on the trio of Ali-Root-Bell. At least one out of the three has always delivered. All three have been amongst the runs this World Cup, although none have dominated. The rest of the batsman have not been as reliable. Tigers must thus do their homework on the three, figure out their weaknesses and quickly get them out of the way.
3. English Pace Quartet Vs BD Top Order
Prior to the tournament, the English pace attack was rated one of the best in the World. But so far their quartet of Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Steven Finn have struggled in the World Cup. Anderson and Broad average 91 and 92 so far. Five of Finn’s eight wickets have come against Scotland. Woakes has been decent, but he too was destroyed by the Lankans. All their pacers have been going for over a run a ball.
If England have to win, their pacers have to fire. However the conditions at Adelaide will not make it any easier for them to regain form.
Bangladesh must maintain the same game plan they implemented against Scotland. They need to see out the new ball with minimal damage. At least one top order batsman must carry on and score a big knock. Shorter boundaries on the square will be appealing to most Bangladeshi batsman who love to pull and slog over midwicket. Another weakness of the English bowling is the sameness of the attack. With all four pacers bowling a similar style and pace, Tigers will not have to do much adapting.
4. Bangladesh’s Big Three
Usually when two of Tamim, Mushfiq and Shakib perform in the same match, Bangladesh does well. Against Scotland, it was a rare occasion where all three stepped up helping Bangladesh post their highest ever run chase.
5. Disciplined Bowling
Bangladesh’s efforts with the ball will be a huge concern for team management.
What is worrying about the bowling is the overall lack of discipline, inability to bowl to the set field or plan, and inability to counter when the opposition gets going.
WEATHER
Rain has been forecasted with the temperatures hovering between 17 and 23 degrees Celsius
TEAM NEWS
England
Despite having failed to defend 309 for 6 against Sri Lanka in their last match, there are no changes on the cards for England.
Probable XI: 1 Ian Bell, 2 Moeen Ali, 3 Gary Ballance, 4 Joe Root, 5 Eoin Morgan (c), 6 James Taylor, 7 Jos Buttler (wk) 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Steven Finn, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 James Anderson.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh will have to take a call on whether or not they are playing Imrul Kayes, the replacement for the injured Anamul Haque.
Looking at the options and the concept of “opener for opener”, he is likely to get a game.
Probable XI: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Soumya Sarkar 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Shakib Al Hasan, 7 Sabbir Rahman, 8 Nasir Hossain, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza (c), 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Taskin Ahmed
PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR
Joe Root is one of the few batsmen in the England team who look comfortable against spin.
The Adelaide pitch is known for assisting spinners and Bangladesh have got some good spinners in Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman and Mahmudullah.
Clearly, Root has got a big task on his hands.
For Bangladesh, it has to be Shakib.
He has been consistent with both bat and ball – 169 runs and four wickets in four matches – and if the team aspires to upset England, he has to be at his very best.
QUOTE
We don’t need to change anything. We need to be ruthless enough to do the simple things consistently. We haven’t done that and that’s why we’ve struggled. It is quite true. This England team is not full of bad players; it is full of good players playing badly. They still have the ability to progress. But the time for talking is over, said England captain Eoin Morgan ahead of the contest.
They are a very experienced side and know how to deal with pressure games like these. I am not thinking of the quarter-finals yet. The focus is to bat, bowl and field well so that we can trouble England. We should just think about our cricket and not worry about what England have been doing, said Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza.
STATS AND TRIVIA
1. Bangladesh have won two of their last three ODIs against England.
2. Tamim Iqbal is the only Bangladeshi batsman to have scored a ton against the English team.
BBN/AI/AD-08Mar15-9:30pm (BST)
