England can advance with win against Bangladesh
Ninth-ranked Bangladesh will be playing fifth-ranked England in an important Cricket World Cup match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, in Chittagong, Bangladesh on March 11th. The two teams have met 14 times in the past with England being victorious in 13 of them and Bangladesh once. One of the games was a World Cup match. England is in second place in Group B with two exciting wins a draw and a loss. Bangladesh sits in sixth place with a win and two losses.
It’s a surprise the English side don’t all have gray hair by now the way they’ve played in this tournament. They didn’t beat Netherlands until the last eight balls of the match and then drew with India on the last ball. That was followed by a two-run last over loss to Ireland and then a six-run win over South Africa. The team is so hard to predict, so who knows what’s going to happen in this match.
Bangladesh needs the win more than England does though. They will likely be out in the first round without a win at home here while England will go through to the next stages if they’re victorious.
However, England could still lose and eventually go through as they still have to play the West Indies. Bangladesh has lost to the West Indies and India and has beaten Ireland and if they lose this game it’s doubtful they’ll be able to beat South Africa.
England has suffered from a couple of injuries as opening batsman Kevin Pietersen is out and so is Stuart Broad, their opening pace bowler. England will be looking for good replacements for the two. It’s likely that Chris Tremlett or Ajmal Shehzad will be called in to replace Broad. Matt Prior will take over Pietersen’s spot as the opening batsman, but Eoin Morgan will replace him in the side. Graeme Swann and Michael Yardy will be the two English spinners.
Bangladesh may make a change or two and we may see Shahriar Nafees put into the lineup in place of Imrul Kayes and Mahmudullah may play instead of Mohammad Ashraful.
Look for the toss winner to bat first in this match. Bangladesh should give England a run for their money, especially in front of the home fans. England should have enough up their sleeves to win this game though and book a spot in the next round.
Bookmaker Ladbrokes has the odds of an England win at 2/9 and a Bangladesh win at 10/3.
The likely teams will be:
England: Andrew Strauss, Matt Prior, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, Graeme Swann, and James Anderson.
Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes or Shariar Nafees, Junaid Siddique, Mishfiqur Rehman, Shakib-al-Hasan, Raqibul Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful or Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Shafiul Islam, Absur Razzaq, and Rubel Hossain.
