The ODI series between Bangladesh and England continues on Friday when the tourists get the first of two chances to seal the spoils when the two sides meet in the second game of the scheduled three in Mirpur.
Bangladesh let England get out of their grasp in the opening match of the series and know that they have no room for manoeuvre from here on in if they are going to extend a proud home record in this format of the game.
Bangladesh
I think there was a fair amount of optimism within the Bangladesh ranks heading into the opening ODI and with good reason given the strength of their squad and the record they have at home. I would say for around 75 overs of that first game that optimism was justified and it looked like they were going to run out the kind of comfortable winners they had every chance of being, however it went wrong late on and now they find themselves up against it.
The big issue Bangladesh had was they couldn’t ever quite get on top of the England bowlers and while the total they put up was competitive, it could have been more had they managed to enjoy a period where they were on top. Even then, having had England 65-4 and miles away from home in the run chase, they will be disappointed that they let their fish off the hook and will look to be a lot more ruthless in this second game.
England
We highlighted ahead of the opening match of the series that England were likely to build their way into it and that we shouldn’t expect to see them at their best in the first game. They weren’t anything close to their best so they will be delighted to have won the game and any natural improvement which comes along here, and there should be a fair bit of it, should see them in a decent position to follow up on that first win.
England will want more overall from their batting even in these conditions which don’t suit them. They got a special innings from Dawid Malan in that opening game but he could do with some support from those around him. Where England will have been happy in that first game was with the ball. They were able to pick up wickets regularly and stifle any momentum that Bangladesh were looking to pick up and if they build on that effort they shouldn’t be far away.
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Team News
Bangladesh have brought Shamim Hossain into their squad for this match so he is one option for the home side should they wish to make a change. Ebadot Hosain and Hasan Mahmud are a couple of others waiting in the wings as well.
England are still at that stage where they are managing the fitness of Jofra Archer so a second match in three days seems unlikely for him. Saqib Mahmood could make his comeback from injury while Reece Topley could come in for Mark Wood who is in the same boat as Archer. Sam Curran is another option too.
Betting
We saw during the opening game of the series that there was a couple of mats down on pitches which I am guessing will be the ones used for this match and potentially the T20s when the action returns here at the end of next week. That means we’ll be on a fresh pitch here but I’m not convinced it will necessarily be the easiest pitch to play on, especially in the conditions which are expected to be dry and hot.
These pitches are never the easiest to hit boundaries on and there were only 43 of them in the opening game. If this match is higher scoring than the opening one I’m not so sure it will be by too much so a 50.5 boundaries line feels a little out of reach. I would imagine even more spin is going to come into the game which will make the boundary hitting even harder. England don’t play these conditions well and it took a wonderful innings from Dawid Malan to have them competitive in that first game. This line feels a few too high based on what we saw in that opening game.
Tips
Back Under 50.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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