ICC champion trophy, Bangladesh and England prop-up for tough trophy opener
ICC champion trophy, Bangladesh and England prop-up for tough trophy opener: England and Bangladesh will look for a return to form from their top-order batsmen when they launch the Champions Trophy at the Oval on Thursday.
On Monday, across London at Lord’s, England collapsed to 20 for six in five overs — the worst start in one-day international history — against the South Africa new-ball partnership of Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell.
“It certainly was a wake-up call in the fact that you need to be able to adapt in different circumstances,” Said England captain Eoin Morgan.
In June, early morning cloud cover that aids swing is often a key part of English cricket conditions.
At Lord’s, a green-tinged pitch did not find favour with Morgan but even on more slower surfaces the matter is how best to bat under grey skies, which can frequently set in all day in England, remains.
England were previously an unbeatable 2-0 up in the three-match series against South Africa and although Morgan was glad the reverse had come before the Champions Trophy rather than during the tournament, it remains a worry.
Bangladesh highlighted the issue of under-performing openers in spectacular style by collapsing to 84 all out in reply to Champions Trophy title-holders India’s 324 for seven in their final warm-up match at the Oval on Tuesday. Defeat by 240 runs was certainly not what they wanted.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said “You know, 84 obviously doesn’t look good,”
“You have to think what the mistake was, so I think we can handle tomorrow especially.”
The Champions Trophy opener is set to facet several survivors on both sides from Bangladesh’s 2015 World Cup win over England, when a hundred from Mahammadullah and aggressive seam bowling propelled the Tigers to a memorable success at the Adelaide Oval.
That defeat knocked England out of the World Cup and led them to adopt a far more aggressive approach to the one-day game that, ‘blips’ like Monday apart, has served them well in the intervening two years.
Morgan said, “Since then, we have been on a giant upward curve, and we have been greatly lucky in the fact we have had a group of players that have bought into a way of playing and enjoyed it, and executed tremendously well.”
“At no stage have we second-guessed ourselves or the direction that we’re going in, and that’s very powerful as a group I think.”
however Mortaza said Bangladesh had it in them to spring a surprise.
“The thing is that we all know that on a given day we can thrash anybody. however we have to start well.” Further he told “England are a very good side. Joe Root, Jason Roy, obviously captain Eoin Morgan is in good form, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler.
“But again, it’s cricket and anything can happen in the game. So you never know.”
Bangladesh come into the Champions Trophy bolstered by warm-up wins over New Zealand and Ireland in Dublin this month.
“Whatever you have done in the history gives you a little bit of confidence, but then you have to start again,” said Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe, the former Sri Lanka batsman.
“So whatever we do first against England, we need to start well and that’s what we are focusing on.
ICC champion trophy, Bangladesh and England prop-up for tough trophy opener. ICC champion trophy, Bangladesh and England prop-up for tough trophy opener
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