The T20 series between Bangladesh and England continues on Sunday when the two sides head back to Mirpur for the second of the three matches scheduled in this hurried white ball tour for Jos Buttler’s charges.
England were surprisingly turned over in the first game of the series on Thursday and will be looking to restore parity here and force a decider. Bangladesh go in search of what would be a famous series win and this is the first of two chances they have to achieve it.
Bangladesh
I don’t think too many judges gave Bangladesh much of a hope in this series given the indifferent record they have in this format of the game and considering the fact that they are taking on the reigning world champions in it. Those doubts didn’t seem to get through to the Bangladesh players themselves though as they set about getting after England and came through in pretty ruthless style to draw first blood in the series.
The impressive thing for Bangladesh in that opening game was how they managed to restrict England with the ball. I think their problem over the last couple of years in the format has been keeping pressure on teams in the middle overs when their standout bowlers aren’t running in but they were able to do that. They kept England to a below par score which their batters jumped all over and if they can repeat that effort they’ll go close to winning the series here.
England
While they wouldn’t have wanted to lose the opening match of the series, England will know that they are only just starting out on another international T20 cycle with their World Cup title defence not coming until late next year. That was always on show in the level of the squad they have selected for this series, some of which was forced on them given the schedule and some of it being players they want to get involved in their group to see if they will carry them to the next World Cup.
The big problem England have when it comes to playing two different series in different countries barely days between each other is that when it comes to depth in this squad there isn’t much of it so when they are beaten there isn’t a huge amount they ca do to make changes. They have next to no batting options to come in so they are going to rely on much more output from those who didn’t deliver in the opening game.
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Team News
Wins for Bangladesh in this format of the game are few and far between but when they do come along they tend to keep the same side for the next one. There is certainly no reason to change unless they want to look at more players.
England have no other batters to bring into the side so they are going to need to go with the same batters although perhaps not necessarily in the same order. England like to rotate Mark Wood and Jofra Archer but could only do that if Reece Topley is available.
Betting
The average score in T20 matches on this ground is 164 and given that we have been away from the Shere Bangla National Stadium for the last few days the pitches have had time to get prepared better and I think that score will be the least that is needed to come out on top in this match. We generally saw the scoring go up in the ODI matches as the series progressed and that is something I can see happening again here too.
The run line for this match sits at 316.5 so if that average is hit in the first innings when the second innings would still be able to lose but this line could be covered. England will bat better in this match I suspect now they have had a taste of the bowling and there might even be more to come from the Bangladesh batting given that they were on easy street in their run chase in the opening game. I think the over has every chance here.
Tips
Back Over 316.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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