England-Bangladesh Trent Bridge ODI Preview

England-Bangladesh Trent Bridge ODI Preview

Eoin Morgan comes into the series off the back of a string of impressive performances against Australia

©Action Images / Steven Paston

England-Bangladesh Trent Bridge ODI Preview

Tamim Iqbal is the man to watch out for with the bat for Bangladesh

©REUTERS / Action Images

England take on Bangladesh at Trent Bridge in the first One-Day International tomorrow (8th July, 13:30 GMT start) and with hard-hitters on both sides, this encounter is likely to produce some fireworks and some great cricket.

England have had a great run of success in recent months, winning the ICC World Twenty20 for the first time and also beating Australia 3-2 in the recent Natwest ODI series.

Eon Morgan was the man of the series against the Australians after he scoring 238 runs in his five innings at an outstanding average of 59.90. This will naturally give the England camp great encouragement, as a player relatively new to international cricket has been able to produce such a comprehensive performance for them.

Stuart Broad bowled very well throughout the series and as a result finished as the leading wicket-taker of the series with 12 wickets to his name. He picked up four-wicket hauls in two of the five games to help England win the series.

Bangladesh have had an inconsistent build up to the series, as they were given a 149-run thrashing by Sussex on their return to England following a disappointing performance in the Asia Cup. They were let down badly by their batting, which is often said to be their strength. Danger man Tamim Iqbal was dismissed for just 17 and the rest of the side crumbled to be bowled out for just 104 in response to 258.

In their second practice fixture, the Bangladeshis put in an improved performance, scoring 304 against Middlesex. This was largely thanks to terrific knocks from opener Imrul Kayes, who made a solid 77 from 92 deliveries and Jahurul Islam who top scored with 88 from 93 balls, including nine fours.

Only Owais Shah and Dawid Malan contributed with the bat, scoring 61 and 32 respectively as Middlesex were bowled out for 160 in 39 overs.

Tamim has had a sensational year, not least against England. In the recent run of four Tests between the two sides, Iqbal hit five scores of more than fifty in six Test innings, culminating at Lord's, where he smashed a brilliant 103 in May.

Coach Jamie Siddons has said, “If Tamim goes off in any of these three one-day games England are in a whole heap of trouble. Anything is possible.”

However, Bangladesh have lost 13 ODIs, since their victory against  Zimbabwe at home in 2009 and the last time these two sides met at Trent Bridge, Paul Collingwood put in a record-breaking performance of 112 and six for 31 in England’s 168 run victory.

On that day, present captain Andrew Strauss thumped a career-best 152 and with England remaining the only Test-playing nation never to have been beaten by Bangladesh in a full international, the omens do not look good for the tourists, despite the return for them of fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza as captain.

Gurjeet Sapal

© Cricket World 2010

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