Published: Oct 07, 2016, 12:30 PM (IST)
Edited: Oct 07, 2016, 10:06 PM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of England tour of Bangladesh 2016-17. This is the first One-Day International (ODI) and will pretty much set the tone for the series. Here you will get all the live updates of the match. It is scheduled to be played at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka. It is a fresh start to a series which at one stage was under the cloud after England pondering a back out. But they have shown the commitment to play at all cost by sending their team for the short tour. Bangladesh will have the home side advantage while England will be banking on their new-found confidence in limited-overs cricket. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: Bangladesh vs England, 1st ODI at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Dhaka.
The tour started with a warm up one-day tour game on October 4 between the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) select XI and the England XI, which the latter one. In the absence of their limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan and opener Alex Hales, the team did exceedingly well to win by a thumping margin. Morgan’s absence has meant England will go into the series under a new captain in Jos Buttler. Besides, the team is also laced with some young, exciting talents in opener Haseeb Hameed and batsman Ben Duckett, who have been added to the squad for the first time. Both have had a terrific last season and it was only apt they got this chance in the Test side.
All-rounder Zafar Ansari, who had earlier been picked for the UAE trip to meet Pakistan but was ruled out before the tour started due to a last minute injury, has also been picked for the Test team. Pacer Jake Ball and veteran spinner Gareth Batty, 38, have also been added. But this is about the Tests which shall come later. Let’s talk about the ODIs first.
The new-look yet confident English side and powerhouse at home Bangladesh will meet in first two ODIs at Mirpur on October 7 and 9 and in the third and final one in Chittagong on October 12. All these games will be day-night fixtures. A few players who will be under the spotlight include Buttler Moeen Ali, Johnny Bairstow, Sam Billings, and Jason Roy from England and Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal and Taskin Ahmed from Bangladesh.
Tamim had a fantastic series against Afghanistan, where he was also the Man-of-the-Series. He will look to continue with his good run. Sarkar had a poor run and he will look to make amends. Kayes, who is coming at the back of a hundred against England XI in the tour game, will also look to cement his place in the side. There’s another young guy Mosaddek Hossain, just 20, who had a terrific debut in a losing cause against Afghanistan. He has shown he will be the one to watch out for in future.
England will bank heavily on skipper Buttler, who won them the warm-up tie. Also eyes will be on Roy, Billings and the powerful batting line-up. All in all, it promises to be an exciting series. Here’s a look at the full squads.
