Hello there. Welcome to the report of the 28th match of the World Cup - England vs Bangladesh.
Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong: England went for Prior as an opener, fighter Morgan made a comeback, Collingwood replaced Bopara. I wasn't happy to see Prior as an opener. Either Trott or Bell should have been given a chance at the top. For it to happen, Morgan would bat at No.3 or 4 and since he seems to be adaptable, this isn't a bad idea. The question is whether Trott or Bell would be more successful batting where they do now. But England lack an opener and needs to take this risk right in the middle of the World Cup. As soon as Trott comes out to bat, the run rate drops, at times even his partners catch his tortoise approach to batting. But he provides foundation and it's better to bat at a low run rate in the start than to lose a few wickets. If Strauss could flourish with Trott by his side, it could well provide England the consistency they need. Kevin Pietersen is a big loss, because the opening partnership of Strauss and KP was beneficial in the tournament, except for the clash against South Africa.
As the action began...
Bangladesh won the toss and choose to field. Soon, Prior was stumped, rather foolishly, especially for a wicket-keeper. Rahim, the Bangladesh keeper, failed in his first attempt to stump, but Prior was lazy in his return to the crease. So Rahim took the stumps out of the ground with the ball and that was the end of Prior. After 16.4 overs, England was struggling at 53/3 with Strauss, Prior and Bell back in the pavilion, as Morgan made his way out. Trott and Morgan were again the heroes as England sailed to 162. Jonathan Trott is England's Mr.consistent with an average of 54.61 in one-day, 86 in Tests and 57.80 in World Cup 2011. Though he bores me to death! Paul Collingwood was sent at No.8, which made me wonder if he was in the team just for the sake of being in the team. There isn't much use of his batting if he bats so low and he shall not just play to bowl economical overs.
How the Tigers chased it down...
After being 73/3, opener Imrul Kayes and captain Shakib took it forward to 155. Bangladesh almost gave the match away as the wickets started to tumble. They lost their 4th wicket at 155 and the 8th at 169! When it looked like England may pull this one off, Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam showed what they are made of. Strauss has raged me in a lot of matches because of his defensiveness. It looks like he always has the 50 overs planned and never changes his plan, no matter what the situation is. Even if the opposition loses 8 wickets, he aims for economical overs. England rarely wins before the 49th over. Take my advice folks, if you want value for money in this World Cup, England's matches are the best. And if you want to be stunned, Pakistan isn't a bad bet either! In my last post, Another jolt in English cricket: Kevin Pietersen out of the World Cup, I asked my readers, "Will England lose to Bangladesh and defeat West Indies by 200 runs or 10 wickets?". It could prove to be right! England must defeat West Indies. For both England and Bangladesh to reach the quarters, England must beat Windies, Bangladesh must beat South Africa and Netherlands, which is unlikely.

Man of the Match: Imrul Kayes
Brief scores:

• Eng 225 all out in 49.4 overs (Trott 67, Morgan 63, Islam 2/29, Razzaq 2/32, S Hasan 2/49)
• Ban 227/8 in 49 overs (Kayes 60, Iqbal 38, S Hasan 32, Shahzad 3/43, Swann 2/42)

Until next time, take care. Cheers!

In my last post, I mentioned the Twenty20s played against Pakistan to talk about Broad's haircut but forgot my purpose. Broad doesn't look feminine or baby-faced anymore but he doesn't look that great either. There have been times when I didn't like his haircut, like when he got it coloured honey blonde (darker than his natural hair colour).
To cricket now, yesterday's match was thrilling. England won it in the records but Bangladesh was the better side. The commentators said that they have defeated all other Test playing nations, I don't remember when they defeated New Zealand though. When Tredwell came out to bat, I thought, either he'll save England from an embarrassment in his debut or everyone will remember his debut. He was calm and Morgan was awesome once again. The English know how to play well and lose and perhaps the English players with origin of other countries know how to win. Alastair became the 2nd English captain after Trescothick to score a half-century in his first two ODIs as captain. And Eoin Morgan became the first player to score centuries for two countries. Lovely.This time Cook brought Wright in the 16th over. Where did that come from? Petals perhaps. Or did he consider history? Like he did while choosing to field in the 1st one-dayer.

The things to watch out for in this series are how new captain Alastair Cook does his job, how new guy Kieswetter plays and where Jimmy Anderson is. I was looking for him during the first match but couldn't find him. No, I didn't forget that he is rested. I just saw someone near the rope and wondered if he is jimmy. It's been so long since he played and he won't play till about May 3rd. The new guy Kieswetter, who made 143 in the 1st warm-up, looked impressive while fielding but not while batting. He is a wicket keeper but he fields well, looked like Irish Cutie Morgan when he was wearing sunglasses. Although these matches are expected to be one sided, they weren't really boring. Alastair panicked a bit. Sidebottom bowled the 37th over, Broad 38th, Collingwood 39th, Swann 40th, Wright 41st, Swann 42nd, Broad 43rd, Bresnan 44th, Broad 45th, Sidebottom 46th. I was waiting for Wright to bowl. I thought may be Cook has forgotten that he bowls. Why did he bring Pietersen before Wright? And only one over for Wright even though he got a wicket? Perhaps at the end of 40th over, he looked around and thought, "who else bowls in our team, who, who does, oh yeah, Wright does!" I remember that this wasn't his 1st match as England captain, he captained against SA in a Twenty20 too but the difference was that Anderson was probably the bowling captain. When Anderson changed Cook's fielding position, a commentator said, "This is the first time I've someone telling a captain where to field." I guess they can work together but that's not gonna happen in this series. Cook's ability to bat with a good strike rate have always been doubted but he hasn't really disappointed in ODIs. Sunday was no different, he scored 64 off 68. In the 2nd warm-up game, he scored 52 off 50 and hit a six too! Yeah, the opposition is Bangladesh but he has done well against good International teams, Counties too. I think, among the minnows, European teams like Ireland, Scotland bowl well while Asian teams bat well.