ZCZC
BSP-18
CRICKET-BD-ENG-TOSS
Tigers opt to bowl first against England
DHAKA, June 8, 2019 (BSS)–Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza won
the toss and opted to bowl first against England in their third match of the
tournament at the Cardiff on Saturday.
The Tigers fielded an unchanged side which beat South Africa by 21 runs
before losing to New Zealand narrowly by two wickets.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza believed the pitch will be
helpful for the seamers in the first hour because of being under cover for
the last two days.
“This pitch has been under cover for the last two days. We liked to but
we are sticking with the same team. Last match was disappointing but
hopefully we will bounce back. We have to play at our best to beat this
England team,” Mashrafe said.
England made one change, bringing in fast bowler Liam Plunkett in the
place of all-rounder Moeen Ali. The hosts, considered as red-hot favourite to
win the World Cup also beat South Africa in tournament opener by 104 runs.
They however fell short of 14 runs against Pakistan while chasing 349
runs target.
Statistically England are far ahead than Bangladesh, winning 16 matches,
in contrast of losing four matches in their 20 encounters. But Bangladesh
held the advantage when it comes to ICC Cricket World Cup.
Both team encountered each other thrice in the cricket’s biggest
extravaganza and England just won a match in 2007 by four wickets. Bangladesh
then defeated England by two wickets in 2011 and by 15 runs in 2015 World
Cup, inspired by a deadly spell of Rubel Hossain. By virtue of this victory
Bangladesh also made the World Cup quarterfinal for the first time.
The magnitude of that defeat at the hands of Bangladesh was such that
England brought wholesale changes to the white-ball cricket method which paid
rich dividends, making them the most destructive side who now possessed the
two highest score of ODI cricket-481 and 444.
Bangladesh however have never been beaten in Cardiff. They stunned the
then all conquering Australia here by five wickets in 2005, to establish them
a force to reckon with and later they beat New Zealand here also by five
wickets, recovering from a shaky 33-4 to chase 266 runs successfully and
romped to the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal in 2017.
Line Ups:
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim
(wicket-keeper), Mohammad Mithun, Mhamudullah Riyad, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat,
Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (captain), Mustafizur
Rahman.
England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan(captain), Ben
Stokes, Jos Buttler(wicket-keeper), Liam Plunkett, Chris Woakes, Jofra
Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood.
Umpires: Joel Wilson, West Indies; Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lanka.
TV Umpire: Bruce Oxenford, Australia. Match Referee: David Boon,
Australia.
BSS/SMP/MSY/1610 hrs