The opening match of the Champions Trophy sees the tournament hosts and favourites England taking on the outsiders of the eight in Bangladesh in front of a packed house at The Oval in a Group A clash on Thursday.
Given the cutthroat nature of this tournament both sides will be eager to get off to a winning start to move their way nicely into the event and take a little pressure off them for the later matches in the group.
England
Everything went just about fine for England in the build up to this tournament apart from a defeat in the final ODI against South Africa on Monday. I don’t think that will worry them though as they rested a few players who needed resting. Unlike in the World Cup what they haven’t done is panic from that defeat at the last minute.
England go into the tournament with the most fearsome batting line up in the competition and if their bowlers deliver the goods over the next three weeks they will be a tough side to beat. This is an early chance to send a marker out but with Australia and New Zealand to come this could be considered as must win.
Bangladesh
Although Bangladesh have earned the right to be here completely on merit they do still carry doubters among the less knowledgeable cricket fan so this is a chance not only to show their improvement in this format of the game but to show off just how good they are and how big a force they can be.
The big question heading into the tournament will be what Bangladesh can extract from these conditions when they have the ball in their hand. If they can surprise everyone and get something from it then they certainly have the potential to surprise. A side with nothing to lose is always a dangerous side.
Team News
England have confirmed that Jason Roy will start this match. Ben Stokes is fit to play but might only feature as a batsman only while Chris Woakes has been passed fit. Mark Wood will return to the side.
Bangladesh look set to leave Taskin Ahmed on the sidelines which highlights the strength in depth that they suddenly have with the ball. Their selection decision revolves around whether to play Imrul Kayes or Sabbir Rahman. The latter seems favourite.
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Betting
I’m not going to bet on the match outcome of this opening match. It should really be a comfortable home win but the pressure really is only on one side and that is England hence why I’m not getting involved at a short price. I do like some bets though.
I expect to see quite a few sixes in this tournament. I’m expecting flat decks especially early on in the tournament and with the weather good leading into the event we should be watching batsmen have the best of it even allowing for 
the 10.30am start time. England will hit sixes. It is in their DNA these days but Bangladesh like to attack with the bat too. The straight boundaries here get shorter by the year with the ground improvements and to me that brings over 9.5 sixes very much into play especially if England bat first.
Shakib Al Hasan hasn’t been in the form we are used to seeing him in for a while leading up to this tournament but if Bangladesh are to do anything in this event he will need to come to the party in a big way. In form or out of it he will be given a key role to play in the side because he is so important to them and for a man who will always be in the game a performance line of 46.5 isn’t high enough that it can’t be covered. Just an average day with bat and ball will get him there let alone a special one with either.
Should Bangladesh struggle with the conditions like there is the potential for them to do then Jos Buttler has the potential to rip them apart. It is no surprise he averages more than 50 against Bangladesh with three 50s in four innings. The pressure he puts on the best attacks is insane let alone ones not used to it. In his four matches against Bangladesh he has top scored twice at 9/1 is a decent price for him to do it again.
Tips
Back Over 9.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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Back S.Al Hasan’s Performance – Over 46.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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Back J.Buttler Top England Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 10.00 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
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