England and Bangladesh aim to banish batting blues
England and Bangladesh recently had spectacular batting collapses. As the tournament gets underway, both would do well to avoid such calamities in order to have a good start to their campaigns.
Published : May 31, 2017 22:05 IST
Spectators have long been advised to get to sporting events early and they could miss the key part of Thursday's Champions Trophy opener between England and Bangladesh at the Oval if they aren't in on time.
Even in June, early morning cloud cover that aids swing is often a key part of English cricket conditions.
The proof came as recently as Monday when, across London at Lord's, England collapsed to 20 for six in five overs — the worst start in One-Day International history — against the South Africa new-ball duo of Kagiso Rabada and Wayne Parnell.
A green-tinged pitch did not find favour with England captain Eoin Morgan but even on more placid surfaces the issue of how best to bat under grey skies, which can often set in all day in England, as many a cold fan knows, remains.
Bangladesh highlighted the issue in dramatic style by collapsing to 84 all out in reply to Champions Trophy title-holder India's 324 for seven in its final warm-up match at the Oval on Tuesday.
Defeat by 240 runs was certainly not what Bangladesh wanted any more than England wished to see its top order suffer such a spectacular slump against South Africa, even if it was already 2-0 up in the three-match series.
Yet it says something about England's current 'white-ball' approach that Jonny Bairstow, its only batsman to make a fifty at Lord's, may not play at the Oval if all-rounders Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes are fully fit.
"I haven't seen a team win a global tournament playing defensively," said England coach Trevor Bayliss.
"It's always a team that backs itself and plays bold cricket," added the Australian, looking to guide England to its first major ODI title.
"From that point of view the message won't change," insisted the former Sri Lanka coach.
Bangladesh collapsed to 22 for six in 7.3 overs against India, not as bad as England on Monday, but concerning all the same.
But Mehedi Hasan, who top-scored for the Tigers with 24, said it still believed it could beat England
"Yes. We have done well in our last few matches against England and we are confident," he said.
Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha tried to minimise the impact of Tuesday's reverse by saying: "Obviously it affects the confidence a little bit, but this is a practice game.”
"It's a big game for us, the first game of the Champions Trophy.”
"But our preparation was good apart from this game so we are confident anyway," added the former Sri Lanka batsman, with the Tigers having beaten both New Zealand and Ireland in a triangular warm-up event in Dublin this month.
KEY STATS
England batsmen v Bangladesh bowlers
| Batsman | Bowler | Innings | Runs | Balls | Wickets | Average | Strike rate |
| Ben Stokes | Mashrafe Mortaza | 3 | 27 | 44 | 2 | 13.5 | 61.4 |
| Jos Buttler | Taskin Ahmed | 4 | 44 | 27 | 2 | 22 | 163.0 |
| Moeen Ali | Mashrafe Mortaza | 3 | 11 | 14 | 2 | 5.5 | 78.6 |
Bangladesh batsmen v England bowlers
| Batsman | Bowler | Innings | Runs | Balls | Wickets | Average | Strike rate |
| Mahmudullah | Adil Rashid | 3 | 49 | 45 | 3 | 16.3 | 108.9 |
| Sabbir Rahman | Jake Ball | 2 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 5.5 | 183.3 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | Moeen Ali | 4 | 28 | 30 | 2 | 14.0 | 93.3 |
WHAT THEY SAY
I think in every ICC tournament you get nice wickets to play on so runs can be scored and can be chased so I think it will be a high scoring tournament and better bowling side will win matches. - SHAKIB AL HASAN |
They’re a very good side with lots of young talent coming through and are very good at home so we’re looking forward to this tie. - EOIN MORGAN |