England vs Bangladesh: 33rd match, Pool A, ICC World Cup 2015 held at Adelaide Oval, Australia

No doubt England is going to receive bashing and criticism for their ousting from the World Cup, but it didn't look like they played terrible cricket. Bangladesh played well. For once, they looked like a proper International side. We didn't even see the wild celebrations they usually have after each victory. Regardless of the outcome of their Quarter-final clash, I would appreciate them for today instead of blaming England.

In addition, England has never been among the top teams in One-day. They might have played well in the tri-series before the tournament, but that's what England does, playing well for a series or two as far as one-days are concerned. Often, they play one-day because they have to and sometimes they get fired up against teams like Pakistan, India and Australia.

It must not be forgotten that Alastair Cook led the side until the end of 2014 and it's only been a couple months since Eoin Morgan has been appointed captain. I've liked his captaincy so far, but a lot goes into making a team a winning one than just good players or good captaincy. English cricket has always been chaotic, with the board acting like a dictator, having players from all around the world and many other factors.

What we see again and again, the English team disappointing us, is the result of poor management and nothing else. It no longer remains surprising for me. Only a few players in the team such as Morgan, Broad and Anderson are settled. What Kevin Pietersen's autobiography pointed makes a lot of sense. A lot of the players, especially the batsmen feel uncomfortable in the team. No wonder the bowlers perform more, whether with the bat or with the bowl. I doubt if anyone except for a select few feel secure about their place in the side. If the best players can be dropped, they know anyone can.

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!

After clinching their first ever victory over England, Bangladesh came back to their style of playing cricket. Ian Botham had suggested that this is a bowl first pitch and that's what Bangladesh did. Andrew Strauss made 154 from 140 balls, batted till the 46th over, smacking the ball around the park. He struck 16 fours and 5 sixes! No, boundary wasn't as short as South African grounds. Often disregarded as someone who plays with a bad strike rate, England captain Andrew Strauss batted with a good strike rate in all three matches of the series and grabbed the Man Of The Match and the Man Of The Series awards. Trotty did quite well too, with a ton in the 3rd ODI at Edgbaston. I don't really remember any centuries by English batsmen this year except the 2 by Eoin Morgan, against Bangladesh and Australia and the one by Kieswetter against Bangladesh. Strauss and Trott broke a few records today. Their partnership of 250 is the highest for England. Earlier, the record was held by Andrew Flintoff and the man who still holds it, Andrew Strauss (226 against West Indies at Lord's in 2004). Luke Wright was praised for his duck, yeah praised for duck, because he hasn't really scored many runs in the past few matches (past few years would also be appropriate here) but he put the team before himself, he came out to bat in the 41st over, so he needed to go big. Bopara, the comeback batsman provided some entertainment after Strauss went, hitting 45* off 16 deliveries! He could score the fastest half-century beating Sanath Jayasuriya (17 balls). Simon O'Donell (Australia) had scored a half-century in 18 balls and so did Shahid Afridi, twice.
                                                                  Back to the match, England dropped Jimmy to bring in Bressie lad. Actually, dropped for us, they call it "rotation". You could use that word for someone who had been playing a lot, who needed rest and you could rest him since England have got a dozen fast bowlers. Personally, I always wanna see Jimmy play, for reasons other than cricket. I'm not talking about looks, people do have personal choices. That was similar to what Michael Holding said during the match. They were all talking about him. I don't really see the point in bringing in Bresnan for James Anderson. If you want to drop him then why not bring in someone better, someone who can actually pick up wickets, someone like Sidebottom. I wonder why he stayed on the sidelines during the 5 matches against Australia and I wonder why Jimmy stayed on the sidelines during the whole ICC World Twenty20. All right, I understand you gotta have extra players when you are on tour but why Sidebottom? These guys should play for their County teams if they are not playing for England. Bresnan picked up one wicket in the 3rd One day. Shahzad impressed again, getting rid of both the openers. But he pulled a hamstring during his 4th over, went out of the field. He came back after a while (I wonder why, not like he is a fielding all-rounder like Wright) but didn't bowl after that. Wright overstepped the crease and Shakib Al Hasan provided some humour by starting to run when he saw Kieswetter throwing at the stumps. Collingwood even missed it but Shakib didn't try so Colly realized he had more time and took the bails off and the everybody burst into laughter. There was another funny moment, not as funny though, on the next delivery, when Mahmudullah came out to bat and everyone except Kieswetter remembered that it was a free hit. Kiesy started celebrating! Threw the ball so high in the air that the batsmen almost took a single!
There was nothing more in the match to write about. I got pretty bored afterwards. So did the crowd at Edgbaston who left the ground a while before England won. Bangladesh were 111/6 in 22 overs and the required rate was 8.46. After that, they never really tried. As if they had forgotten that they were playing an International match. It looked a net session. England weren't ripping them off and they were just standing at the crease. They were just waiting for 50 overs to finish. Waiting for the game to be over. That's what I waiting for too, but not in that way. I just wanted England to take the wickets and finish it off or Bangladesh to try and lose their wickets after a while. From over 22 to over 37, only 49 runs were scored, 2 of which were maidens. They did hit a few shots after that, especially Shafiul Islam who had given 97 in his 9 overs earlier in the day. Bowled well at Bristol though. Bopara and Yardy took the wickets at the end. Bopara finished with figures of 4 for 38 in 10 overs.

Bangladesh created history at Bristol earlier today. I could start with England won the toss and choose to field......but I wouldn't. The newsflash is that Bangladesh won. All said. Having defeated all other teams in International cricket, Bangladesh secured their first ever win over England in the 2nd One Day International of the Natwest series 2010.
                                                           England made a few changes to the side by bringing in Jonathan Trott and Ajmal Shahzad in place of James Tredwell and Timothy Bresnan. I liked both changes, bringing in a specialist batsman and a specialist bowler in place of 2 all-rounders but Tredwell should have been given an opportunity to show his worth. He was only given 3 overs, in which he conceded 18 runs. Shahzad was like the umpire of the match, he decided a lot of things, like how long Kayes batted, by dropping him thrice, once each off Anderson, Wright and Broad, in different funny styles as if his eyesight is weak and he had forgotten to wear his lenses. Wright almost got a wicket in the 19th over- twice actually, once when Kayes was out, caught by Kieswetter, it looked out to Wright but no one appealed much and 2 balls later when Shahzad dropped Kayes' catch. Shahzad even took the wickets of 3 of the first 4 batsmen and ran Ashraful out. There was another run out, in which Mortaza and Mahmudullah ended up at the same end. Bangladeshis do provide some humor. Jamie Siddons wasn't pleased though. Bangladesh finished at 236/7, didn't quite score much in the last 10 overs.
                                           Strauss and Keiswetter made a quickfire 33 and 20 respectively. Collingwood, Morgan, Yardy, Shahzad went quickly. They never really got going. But wait, there is more to this, Collingwood was clearly not out, got a big inside edge and was given out lbw and my list of batsmen missed someone, the star of the 1st ODI, Ian Bell. Belly got injured while attempting to take a catch. So badly injured that he could sit out for 6 weeks. Stuart Broad gave us a bit of hope with his 21 off 25 while comeback batsman Trott batted till the end and finished on 94 off 130. It was a remarkable effort, given that wickets kept tumbling from the other end. James Anderson batted at No.10, where Bell should have batted. He made 2 off 7 and Bangladesh started celebrating after they got him out. They had the stumps in their hands while their coach pointed that they still have to take one wicket- that of Ian Bell or Jonathan Trott. He must have learned sign language by now, I wonder how many of the Bangladesh team understand everything he says. Bell came out to bat with heavy strapping on his foot, like he was wearing one pair of shoes in one foot. But he wasn't needed. Trott took a couple on the first 2 deliveries of the over and when 6 were needed off 4, Trott edged the ball to the keeper and Bangladesh won!
                                                                England have been known to respect and never lose a game against the minnows. Yeah, they did lose to Netherlands in the ICC World Twenty20 last year but that was a Twenty20 in which winning isn't as hard as it is in ODIs and Tests for the less developed cricketing sides. England did take Bangladesh lightly, having rested Graeme Swann and paid the price. They should still have won without KP and Swanny.They would have won, had they not been so sloppy in the field. And they could have still won it, had Bell batted at No.10. Anderson just wasted the deliveries and in case, Trott would get out at that point, Bell would have to bat with Anderson, which would have put him under immense pressure. I wanted England to win, very badly but at the end, I did enjoy watching Bangladesh celebrate. They rarely win so every time they win, they celebrate like they have won the World Cup and it was good to see that they got supporters in England. It's good to see minnows win and prosper. I did enjoy the match, best match of the summer. The next game is on Monday at Edgbaston, the noisiest of all England grounds. 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.