England Vs Bangladesh; 3rd ODI Preview
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 and England will face off in the series decider today at Fortress Edgbaston at 9:30 GMT. The series at this stage is levelled between the two opponents with 1-1. The Bangali tigers breathed life into the NatWest series when they broke the 15-ODI losing streak with a five-run victory over the hosts on Saturday, July 10. It was Bangladesh’s ever first victory over the English team in any format of the game.
Bangladesh cricket saw a successful day after a long gap of 247 days at Bristol on Saturday, 10th July as they sealed a five run win against the English side. Lose bowling, fielding lapses and in the end several needless irresponsible shots proved that it was a below par side, taking the Bangali Tigers as an easy prey. Though the danger man of Bangladesh, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jahurul-Islam-c1624 and Imrul Kayes - with an equal support from the bowling squad - led non-favourites to a five-run victory over the T20 World Champions levelling the series 1-1. Jonathan Trott’s 94, lacking support from the other end could not help England avoid the defeat. England was all out in 49.3 overs running short of just five runs.
Jamie Siddons after the Bristol victory is hopeful that his side can win the series even. "I've said before there were a few chinks in the armour of this England team and I guess them leaving a few players out of their side weakened them a bit," said Siddons.
During the second ODI at Bristol, visitors were busy in finalizing the replacements but today it would be the cause of concern of Andrew Strauss as he would miss Ian Bell after he (Bell) got a left foot fracture and James Anderson’s form is questionable. Ravi Bopara might come in for the injured Bell. The English selectors will once again face the same problem of balanced squad while finalizing the XIs of the decider. If the hosts went for a six batsmen squad, Ravi Bopara would more probably have a chance in the national side after a gap of almost ten months. Bopara featured the national squad last time in September 2009.
However if the English side decided to make the last ODI against Bangladesh with six bowlers, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajmal-Shahzad-c42489 might get a chance. 24 years old Ajmal has already impressed the selectors at Bristol taking three crucial wickets of the main weapons of the Bangladesh batting line, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes and Jahurul Islam. The hosts, at the same time, are facing problems as far as new-ball wickets are concerned and this might not let the selectors pick Ajmal.
Bangladesh side seems to be contented, as they should be, with the squad that clinched them a historic win against the English men. So an unchanged visiting squad is expected for the decider.
During the summer season, Edgbaston has always been a high-scoring track in the short formats of cricket. The pitch suits the free-flowing batting, hence the English bowling can expect blitz of Tamim Iqbal. The most recent encounter that the Edgboston has seen was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in a two match T20 series sealing a 2-0 win over the world champs.
The hosts have seen many triumphant moments at the Fortress Edgbaston ground. Bangladesh has a lone memory of the ground and is not an encouraging one. The Bangali Tigers played their lone match at Fortress Edgbaston in 2004 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and were all out within a 100. The only tiger who survived on that bad day was Mohammad Ashraful.
The Bangali Tigers would step in the decider with intent of carrying on the winning spirit while for the hosts, recently victorious against World Champions, it would be a decider in the real sense as a defeat in today’s game can challenge the bragging rights across all formats – that have not so far been accepted by other cricketing giants.
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