Bangladesh aim to upset England

KARACHI: England take on Bangladesh today at Lord’s in the first of the two-match Test series with the Asian side desperate to answer their critics and justify their Test status.

Since their promotion to cricket’s longer format, Bangladesh have managed just three wins out of 66 matches. Their record against England is clean - they have lost all six Tests against them - and the most recent defeat came two months ago when Bangladesh were whitewashed 2-0 at home. The tourists’ preparations were rocked by a defeat against England Lions by nine wickets last week. Jahurul Islam was the only Bangladeshi batsman to pass fifty in the match. Yet Jamie Siddons, Bangladesh coach, remained confident of his side’s performance at Lord’s. “We have a very good spin attack,” Siddons told AFP. “So we’ll fight with our spinners. If we play a good first innings and bat for three or four sessions, hopefully it can be a very good match for us. It’s our dream to play at Lord’s, so hopefully we will give 110 per cent.”

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said that anything less than a crushing victory for the home side is likely to be regarded as a poor result.

However, good news for Bangladesh is that opening batsman Tamim Iqbal is expected to play despite a wrist injury. Captain Shakib Al Hasan has recovered from his bout of chickenpox and will be back to lead the side. Meanwhile, England’s Test captain Andrew Strauss will also return to the side after skipping the Bangladesh series.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 27th, 2010.