Match: Bangladesh v England
Date: 7 October, Friday
Time: 4:30pm SGT/2pm IST/9:30am BST
Venue: Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur
TV Channel: In Singapore, the live coverage of the 1st ODI between Bangladesh and England will be on Star Cricket.
Overview
Bangladesh host England in the first One Day International of a three-match series at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur on 7 October.
The hosts have not lost an ODI series at home since 2014 and have enjoyed an unbeaten run, which saw top sides including Pakistan, India and South Africa biting the dust. Under Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh are proving they are no more pushovers and establishing themselves as another cricketing superpower from Asia.
They will be keen on maintaining their successful home record against the visiting England team. The return of Taskin Ahmed, who was banned for suspect action after the 2016 ICC World Twenty20, to the ODI setup will boost the Bangladesh bowling line-up in the absence of injured pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman.
Bangladesh have gone in with a solid pace battery consisting Mortaza, Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain and Nasir Hossain. Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad are quality all-rounders, who can cause headaches to any opposition on slow-paced wickets in the country with their spin-bowling abilities.
In-form Tamim Iqbal, who smashed 218 runs including a century in his series-winning effort in the recently concluded three-match series against Afghanistan, will provide solidity at the top. With the likes of Imrul Kayes, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim and Soumya Sarkar, Bangladesh are expected to test the England bowling attack.
England will be without skipper Eoin Morgan and aggressive opening batsman Alex Hales as the duo withdrew from the tour over security fears. Jos Buttler has been named the stand-in captain while Ben Stokes will assist the wicketkeeper-batsman for the three-match series.
In the absence of Hales, 21-year-old batsman Ben Duckett is likely to make his ODI debut on Friday. It will also provide an opportunity for Jason Roy to establish himself at the top. England also have quality all-rounders of the likes of Moeen Ali, Stokes, Chris Woakes and wicketkeeper-batsmen Buttler and Jonny Bairstow.
Unlike the hosts, England have brought with them two specialist spinners - Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson - who will be handy on the subcontinent conditions. The visitors also had a good outing against the Bangladesh Cricket Board's Select XI in their tour game on Tuesday.
It will be a challenging tour for Buttler and Co. as they will be up against a spirited Bangladesh unit, who will be playing in front of huge, passionate home crowds.
Meanwhile, England would also be looking at getting used to the subcontinent conditions as they will head to India for a sterner test in a three-month long tour, starting 9 November.
TV Schedule
Singapore: Star Cricket
UK: Sky Sports 2
Bangladesh: GTV
India: Star Sports
US: Willow TV.
Team News
Bangladesh
Possible XI: Mashrafe Mortaza (C), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Mosaddek Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain, Shafiul Islam
England
Possible XI: Jos Buttler (c & wk), Jason Roy, Sam Billings, Ben Duckett, James Vince, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Mark Wood
