 The second ODI between England and Bangladesh will be played at Bristol
in Gloucester. England leads the series 1-0 after a convincing performance
in the first ODI. They will look to win the second ODI in order to win the series
and ensure that they go into the third game with a chance to experiment.
England's performance in the first ODI was not very convincing, but in the
end, they managed an easy win. The bowlers, for one, allowed the top Bangladeshi
order to get away despite getting the better of Tamim Iqbal relatively early.
Then again, Raqibul Hasan, who was making a comeback into the side, was allowed
to score 76, thanks mainly due to some kind of evident complacency, and that
ensured that the side had to chase 251 for a win.
Click for Live Score Card of England Vs Bangladesh
The English batting comfortably chased down the target in 45 overs, and it
was mainly due to the efforts of Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell, both of
whom scored half centuries. Bell would be particularly happy with his unbeaten
84 that guided the side to a win, as he has been out of the ODI side for some
time now.
For the second ODI, one does not feel that the English side may need too many
changes, but they could look at their tiring bowling. For a James Anderson to
go for 74 runs in his ten overs was criminal and that is where the match could
have shown a paradigm shift.
From the Bangladeshi perspective, the time is right when they start thinking
about getting in batsmen who can convert their starts into the big runs. There
were four batsmen who got starts but failed in their endeavour to cross 30 and
that meant that the side managed only 250. Shakib al Hasan is one of
those talented few, who should have grabbed these opportunities with both hands,
instead of allowing him to get out on 20.
He was relieved of his captaincy for this very purpose, in order to ensure
that the side benefits from his performance with the bat and ball.
Talking of the bowling, he did an excellent job with the ball, but the rest
of the bowlers failed. That has always been Bangladesh's problem and it was
no different in the first ODI. Expecting the seamers to do the job on a track
that does not help spinners will never be something the side will be comfortable
with.
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