Match Preview - Bangladesh vs England, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023/24, Match 7 - Gudstory

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The big picture – a familiar enemy awaits a faltering England

Six games to go, 42 to come… It is too early to make any general judgments about the fate of the 2023 World Cup. However, as England’s cricketers head to the tournament’s highest peak in Dharamsala, they do so with clear reason to doubt how far they are prepared to climb. The heights they occupied on their own land four years ago.

That doesn’t mean Jos Buttler’s men can’t bounce back from that unimaginably crushing defeat to New Zealand in Ahmedabad. Resilience has been an underappreciated trait of the champion team they have built over the past eight years – and perhaps never was it better demonstrated than in their group stage escape in 2019.

And so, when Buttler urges his men to be “braver” in their play against a very dangerous Bangladesh on Tuesday, there is no reason yet to believe they cannot and will not raise their game – as they did after a humbling, troubling loss. To Ireland on their way to last year’s T20 World Cup win in Australia, or indeed when New Zealand gave them a similarly blistering blow in their opening ODI in Cardiff in September.

The broader worry for England is that such wake-up calls should be necessary at all. Their opening display revealed an understandable degree of dysfunction, given the intense nature of their tournament build-up, but moreover, their lack of clarity in their line-up. Once it became clear that England’s batting had failed to fulfill its side of the bargain – and ESPNcricinfo ball-by-ball data showed that the most attacking line-up in ODI history attacked just 17% of deliveries across its flat innings – the bowlers (all World Cup winners) panicked. Out wide, they discarded any pretense of being able to defend a total of less than 282, and instead exploded in a series of desperate attacks.

At this point, enter a familiar World Cup foe. Bangladesh cannot claim the foothills of the Himalayas as their home, but their routine elimination by Afghanistan at the same venue on Saturday was a satisfying way to cement their credentials as one of the five Asian teams competing in this tournament. And as if England wouldn’t already be wary, memories of the World Cup in Chittagong in 2011, and the famous Adelaide in 2015 – on two previous occasions when Bangladesh outplayed a disoriented side – should have put their minds on high alert.

There may be up to four survivors on each side of the 2015 standoff, ground zero for England’s rebuilding towards its glorious redemption four years later. For Bangladesh, a brilliant hundred from Mahmudullah set the team on the road, combined with Mushfiqur Rahim’s 89 off 77, while Taskin Ahmed’s priceless grab for Buttler sealed the deal, after Shakib Al Hasan’s usually shifty shot had pacified the safety first. . Chase. For England, Moeen Ali, Joe Root and Chris Woakes complete the role of veterans, all of whom will no doubt have their own takeaways from a deeply ignominious occasion.

However, there is a more recent World Cup match that England might prefer to look back to – from Cardiff in 2019, when England faced Bangladesh after a devastating loss to Pakistan in their second match of the league stage. After that, they did not blink at a 106-run win, thanks in particular to the now absent Jason Roy, whose brilliant 153 embodied the run-at-danger approach that Eoin Morgan then, and Buttler now, believed England’s best means to glory. However, with nine wins and 11 losses in the last 15 ODI months, England no longer look quite sure what to do with themselves once they storm into that burning building.

Ostensibly, conditions in Dharamsala should encourage a return to English writing. The combination of tight dimensions and high altitudes should invite the English heavy artillery to unleash their full power – and they certainly did not hold back for any celebration in a carefree warm-up against Bangladesh in Guwahati last week, when they rallied during a rain-drenched chase with 77 to go. Unused ball.

However, as Shakib and Mehidi Hasan Miraz showed by sharing six wickets between them against Afghanistan, the Bangladesh players have made themselves feel at home on this ground, while the clay pitch, which has been harshly criticized by Jonathan Trott, the Afghanistan coach, is a hindrance. Another possibility for England’s hopes of all-out aggression.

And that’s not the only thing about England’s campaign that hasn’t been perfect so far. As Bangladesh have shown on this stage before, they are a tiring team to throw away when your mind is not at full capacity at the moment.

Form guide

Bangladesh WLLWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
England LWWWW

In the spotlight – Liam Livingstone and Mehdi Hassan Meraz

In light of the continued absence of Ben Stokes, and with the possibility of Moeen making way for an additional seamer, the spotlight is more squarely on Liam Livingstone As the overall centerpiece of the England team. His deft leg-spin/spin displays provide a point of difference that sets him apart from others, but with so much interest in England’s batting at the moment, this is the aspect of his game that he needs to progress on.

Despite not having an impressive 95 to convert the recent home series against New Zealand, Livingstone’s all-round batting form has been disappointing for several months now. In his last three matches of the English summer, he managed six fours from a total of 96 deliveries. Then in the opening match of the tournament in Ahmedabad last week, he was responsible for England’s downfall after hitting 20 from 22 balls. The impression Livingstone repeatedly gives is that he is a man too keen to launch the ball wide, not focused enough on maintaining his form and channeling his undoubted power. You might say it’s no different to the England team as a whole.

Speaking of all-around bowling, Mehdi Hassan MirazHis performance against Afghanistan was everything his team could have hoped for. In his starting role, he cleaned up with 3 for 25, including a delicious dip by Heshmatullah Shahidi that lured him into a loose hack through mid-off, opening Afghanistan to a collapse of 8 for 42 in 13 overs.

Then, after being sent to bat at number three following the early defeat of Tanzid Hassan, Mehidi began a quiet chase with 57 off 73 balls, following a century against the same opponents in the Asia Cup last month. His composure as a batsman is no secret to anyone who witnessed his heroics against India in Mirpur last year, including a century at number eight, while no fewer than half a dozen England players will remember him from his Test debut as a teenager . In 2016, when his 12-wicket taker in Mirpur sealed another famous win. This clearly shows that Bangladesh has a wealth of skilled and experienced players who can take advantage of any day.

Team News – Stokes out as England consider more seamer

Stokes looks almost certain to miss the second match in a row, having suffered a quadriceps injury since his arrival in India. Reece Topley is on course to make his tournament debut, and is likely to be a replacement for Moeen in bolstering England’s bowling stock, although additional rotation in their fast batting is not out of the question after the disappointing display against New Zealand.

England (Possible): 1 Jonny Bairstow, 2 Daoud Malan, 3 Joe Root, 4 Harry Brook, 5 Jos Buttler (captain and week), 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Mark Wood, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Tubli.

There is little reason for Bangladesh to change the winning side, although pacer Mahdi Hasan looked lively in the net on the eve of the match, and he could be taken into account ahead of Mahmudullah – the hero of that defeat in 2015 – who bowled a solitary ball against Afghanistan and did just that. Not a bat. Not a bat.

Bangladesh (possible): 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Litton Das, 3 Najmul Hossain Shanto, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Towhid Hridoy, 6 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Mahmudullah/Mahedi Hasan, 9 Taskin Ahmed , 10 Shoriful Islam, 11 Mustafizur Rahman

Pitch and conditions

The weather became cooler than it had been in Ahmedabad, but not noticeably. A new pitch has been prepared for this second match, two crossways of the surface that proved difficult to score in Afghanistan’s match against Bangladesh, and bowlers have flourished here previously, from Tim Bresnan in 2013 to Suranga Lakmal four years later. . However, the pitch was the focus of the pre-match preparation, with the sandy surface causing Mujibur Rahman to grotesquely hurt his knee as he slid in to intercept Shakib’s boundary. The heavy nature of the deck can reduce the bonus to ground hits as well.

Stats and trivia

England and Bangladesh have met in each of the past four World Cups, with the titles tied so far. England won their first meeting in Barbados in 2007, and their last meeting in Cardiff four years ago, although Bangladesh won the titles in 2011 and 2015.

Overall, the contest is one-sided, with England winning 19 times to Bangladesh’s five. However, since the first of those five matches, at Bristol in July 2010, the record has become more even, with England limited to seven wins from their last 12 matches.

Dharamsala has hosted five completed ODI matches in the last ten years. The team that finished second won four of them, very comfortably… including England on their only previous visit in 2013, when Ian Bell’s century led them to a seven-wicket consolation victory in a 3-2 loss.

Jonny Bairstow will play in his 100th ODI, the first century of international matches he will reach across formats. He has also played 95 Tests and 70 T20Is.

quotes

“I think that’s a bad thing, in my own opinion. I think any time you talk about being careful when you’re dunking, or maybe being careful when you’re making plays, that goes against everything you want to be about as a team.”
If butler Unaffected by the condition of the stadium in Dharamsala

“We did not expect such wickets in Dharamsala, but we found that there was spin in the first two or three overs. The ball stalled a bit.”
Mehdi Hassan MirazBangladesh’s match-winning player against Afghanistan, admits that the amount of his role in that contest surprised the team.