A hectic winter for England begins with the first ODI of three in Bangladesh on Friday. Bangladesh host England in a series for the first time in six years and will be looking to show them that their recent improvement is no fluke.
With this being a three match series both sides will be eager to win this opener and put the pressure on the other side to win the last two matches to deny them a series victory. Given all that we should get a competitive opening to the series.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh warmed up for this series with a 2-1 win against Afghanistan which should have tuned them up nicely for these three matches. In all they have won their last six series on home soil so this should be a competitive Bangladesh unit taking to the field.
The biggest improvement in them in the six years since England were last on these shores has come in the quality of their bowling attack. No longer are they so reliant on left arm spinners. They now have a strong depth of seam bowlers, as England saw when the two sides met in the World Cup last year.
England
It has been near enough a month now since England beat Pakistan in the ODI series between those two and in keeping with their change in style over the last 18 months that series was won with the bat. We all remember that amazing innings of theirs at Trent Bridge which broke all records and it will be interesting to see if they can adopt that style on these slower wickets.
The other interesting thing heading into the series will be how England’s spinners bowl. By and large they have done what has been required of them in this format for a while now but that has been in conditions where anything they deliver has been a bonus. Here they will be the main men which is a different element entirely.
Team News
There is no Mustafizur Rahman for this series so Bangladesh will need to find a death option that they can rely on. Imrul Kayes appears to have won the race to partner Tamim Iqbal at the top of the order.
England will be without Alex Hales and Eoin Morgan for this series as both have decided not to travel. James Vince and Ben Duckett are set to take their places with Jos Buttler taking on the captaincy. There is also no Chris Jordan, Mark Wood or Joe Root.
Shere Bangla National Stadium
This venue in Dhaka will stage the first two ODIs of this series. So far there have been 96 ODIs on this ground with Bangladesh having played in 81 of them. They have a losing record which is to be expected given their struggles in their formative years but it isn’t as bad as it could be at 38 wins to 42 defeats with a no result. England have won both matches they have played here.
This isn’t the highest scoring ground going around. A large part of that is the slowness in the wicket which is often dry in the humid, sultry conditions. The boundaries are there to be attacked though which will suit England the longer their innings goes on.
Betting
I understand the clamour for backing Bangladesh in this match and series with their recent home record and the fact that England are without their captain but I do wonder how big the absence of Mustafizur will be throughout this series so I’ll take a watching brief on the match betting front to begin with.
There is a bet I like in this opening match though and it involves England’s first 10 overs. Alex Hales might not be here but I don’t expect their aggression to easy up any with James Vince and Ben Duckett both capable of scoring quickly in the top three of the batting.
England will know that batting is going to get harder the longer their innings goes on and spin becomes more of a factor so I’m expecting them to come out and look to get ahead of the run rate in the first 10 overs to give them some breathing space either in a run chase or in getting up to a decent total.
Their first 10 overs line is 51.5 and that just looks a little on the low side to me given how England play the game these days. There is talk of a bit of rain around too so any shortened match would play into our hands if we take the overs. Rain or no rain I’m expecting England to go at more than 5.2 an over through the initial powerplay.
Tips
WON – Back England’s 1st 10 Overs – Over 51.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
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