CricInfo preview for Tommorow

[cricman]

Cricinfo Preview

Intersting looks like Vaughn and Harmission are gonna sit this match out. I'm pretty sure thay dont want Ash to rough up Harmission and Tapash look like he's gonna play instead of Rana, Also Simon Jones is gonna get his chance to play as well.

If we have any shot we gotta get on Simon Jones. This is his first international match since his knee injury and we gotta jump on him.

Last weekend it was Australia who suffered a double-header of a headache when they twice rolled over in a nightmare start to their NatWest Series. This weekend it could very easily be Bangladesh's turn to suffer double trouble: Australia have already crushed them at Old Trafford, and now they must travel to Headingley where a snarling England will be chomping at the bit to defeat them, too, and gain a place in the final. Victory for England would set up the ultimate contest that everybody has been expecting - the clash of the old enemies.

But not all matches have been so predictable. Only the strongest, shiniest crystal ball could have predicted Bangladesh's humiliation of Australia, but that is now fast fading in the memory thanks to Australia's sound whipping in the return match on Saturday. As a result of the ten-wicket drubbing, Bangladesh's confidence should be low when they face the table-toppers England - who of course have the added advantage of playing at home.

But as Habibul Bashar, Bangladesh's relentlessly upbeat captain, keeps quietly reminding people, that win meant so much to the team, and playing positively is the Bangladeshi way. His young charge, Mohammad Ashraful, certainly lives and breathes by those words, as his fiery, inventive 58 on Saturday proved, and this was his third fifty on the bounce. Shahriar Nafees is also no slouch with the bat and neither is Aftab Ahmed. But they will need all three to fire. In the bowling department, Bangladesh could return to having just one spinner, so Manjural Islam would lose out, with Tapash Baisya set for a return.

For England, Michael Vaughan is still out with a groin injury which the management do not wish to risk: however, he will play on Tuesday against Australia. The pace bowler Simon Jones has been passed fit, having spent a week at Loughborough receiving treatment on his right knee, and the coach Duncan Fletcher is keen to get him playing as much one-day cricket as possible.

Steve Harmison could be rested, with a view to the Australia match on Tuesday with more psychological points on offer than could be gained at Headingley - if England have a full hand of in-form seamers come Tuesday, then all the better. Harmison has already said he doesn't want to be hidden from Australia's view but there is little need for him to be overused against Bangladesh, with a variety of pace options available to finish the job, particularly if Bangladesh capitulate in such spectacular style as they did against Australia.

Darren Gough is likely to play - he's already been rested for a game - and England will be keen to see more of Chris Tremlett, after a successful start to his ODI career. The other option would be not to play Ashley Giles, but he needs the practice, even if it is on a Headingley greentop which usually favours the seamers.

Edited on, June 25, 2005, 6:41 PM GMT, by cricman.

[Up_From_The_Underground]

Bring them on. BD cricketers: 140 million people are with you.. do something.. We truely and deeply believe you guys are capable of playing very good cricket....

You can hit sixes, You can hit 4s.. Just stay on the crease for long time... that's the main obstacle that I see all the time.. Nothing else.. don't give your wickets like a christmas gift.... .. make them work hard....Like Ashraful is doing...

[Zephaniah]

Shall we play Nafees Iqbal at 3 instead of Tushar Imran?

[howzatt!]

we've seen enough of tushar imran. i'll be happy to see either nafees iqbal or even rajin saleh instead of tushar imran. nafis could replace tushar imran at #3, but if selectors decide to replace tushar with rajin, then aftab should come at # 3.