Bangladesh vs. England Preview: First Test Match at Lords
With things around the world changing rapidly, so are sports. Modern day cricket stays in full swing and soul all around the year. One after the other, there are tournaments and matches full of thrill and nail biting situations. After the spectacular T20 Championship in the West Indies, cricket lovers’ eyes’ are rotating towards England, but this time for the longer version of the game. A brilliant cricket event welcomes the first Test match between England and Bangladesh at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London this Thursday starting at 11:00 a.m. BST.
This Test series is being seen by many as a clue for England’s selection for the upcoming Ashes series scheduled for November. The anticipation and hopes are mounting for the first day of the Ashes series in Brisbane. People have kept their fingers crossed as they are waiting to know if the team would include four bowlers or would opt for five. And yet, there are some who think that three bowlers would be enough and the team now needs to have more batsmen. England however feels that the tactic of having six batsmen is something still to be tested.
The ones who remember the last time Bangladesh played a Test series against England would definitely not buy a ticket for the fourth day as they never know if there would be a fourth day at all! In 2005, when Bangladesh visited England for the Test series, England took the Bengalis to the dry-cleaners as Ian Bell was seen in full form against them who took them as easy meat at the Riverside with his maiden Test hundred.
Even the clouds seem to be shinning brighter at the English side as it had not been a good trip for Bangladesh till now. Having been bashed from an Essex second XI and another drubbing at the hands of England Lions, the result is pretty known to clever cricket watcher. Bangladesh lacked experience of how to play in the early season in English conditions. Secondly, luck has not shown any mercy to the Bengalis either.
Even the Bengali fans are not expecting a close tie as their Captain and leading player, Shakib-Al-Hasan might not be able to play the first Test due to chicken pox. The opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, the man who had scored three half-centuries in four Test innings earlier this year against England needs a wrist operation.
Even a closer picture of the previous statistics of the Bangladesh team does not show a very promising match. Out of the sixty seven tests played, Bangladesh has won only three, two of which were against the West Indies team when it was short of its best players due to domestic problems. Of the six draws, four had been played in their home grounds back in Bangladesh.
Cricket's controversial umpire decision review system (DRS) would not be used at Lord’s. The host broadcaster Sky Sports and the International Cricket Council failed to reach an agreement on the cost for the allocation of the system.
Aleem Dar, the Pakistani umpire, who was serving as the third umpire at Lord's, has been swapped by England's Richard Illingworth due to the unavailability of DRS.
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