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| November 7, 2003 | Friday | Ramazan 11, 1424 |
England keen to avoid BD slip-up
CHITTAGONG, Nov 6: England will field one of their most inexperienced one-day sides against Bangladesh over the coming week.
They will be determined, however, not to make headlines in Chittagong on Friday as the first side to lose to their hosts in 45 games.
England will have a full squad available after seamer Richard Johnson, who took nine wickets in England’s Test win at the venue, and all-rounder Rikki Clarke recovered from viral infections.
Left-handed batsman Andrew Strauss will be hoping for his debut after making a half-century during a 146-run stand with Vikram Solanki against a Bangladesh board development side earlier in the week.
Michael Vaughan said the team hoped for a 3-0 whitewash after winning both tests but told reporters: “It won’t happen without hard work. I had said before the tests that we expected to win 2-0, but it took a lot of discipline to do that.”
Bangladesh go into the series without strike bowler Mashrafe Mortaza, while left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique is doubtful for the opening game with a thigh strain.
“Missing our two main bowlers will be a major problem for us,” captain Khaled Mahmud said on Thursday.
Rafique was Bangladesh’s best bowler in the tests, grabbing 10 wickets. Mortaza took a test-best four for 60 at Chittagong but was then ruled out for five weeks with a ligament tear in his right knee.
The home team have included left-arm spinner Manjurul Islam in their squad after his two wickets and 47 runs against England in the board development match at Dhaka.
Bangladesh last won a one-day international against Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup.
Teams (from):
England - Michael Vaughan (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Vikram Solanki, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ian Blackwell, Rikki Clarke, Chris Read, Ashley Giles, Richard Johnson, James Anderson, James Kirtley, Andrew Strauss, Anthony McGrath, Gareth Batty.
Bangladesh - Khaled Mahmud (captain), Habibul Bashar, Khaled Mashud, Hannan Sarkar, Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Mushfiqur Rahman, Manjurul Islam, Tapash Baisya, Nafees Iqbal, Mohammad Jamaluddin, Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad Moniruzzaman, Anwar Hossain.—Reuters
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