Strauss says England can cope without Pietersen

NOTTINGHAM: England captain Andrew Strauss insists he has no qualms about leading a side without Kevin Pietersen as his team gets ready to face Bangladesh in the first One-Day International (ODI) today. The star batsman will miss the three-match series due to a thigh injury although England selection chief Geoff Miller said the South Africa-born shotmaker would have been rested in any event.

Pietersen has gone 16 ODI innings without a fifty and while his place, when fit, is not yet under threat, the loss of arguably their most talented player means England are set to give one of the Warwickshire duo of Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott a chance to fill the gap.

“His absence is a loss because he’s a world-class player but he’s being replaced by people with proven track records in international cricket,” Strauss told reporters at Trent Bridge.

“It’s not as if we’re blooding a youngster on the back of losing our biggest player. I’m entirely confident we’ve got the reserves in place to cope with that loss,” added Strauss.

Bell, 28, has played 79 one-dayers for England but hasn’t featured in one since facing India in Bangalore back in November 2008.

However, he restated his one-day case with a limited overs best 158, off 143 balls, for the second string England Lions in their dramatic triangular series tied match against India A in Worcester on Tuesday.

Strauss said, “He’s a good package and potentially he is a world-class player. It’s fantastic to have the likes of him to call upon and Jonathan Trott as well, who has never let anyone down in an England shirt in one-day cricket.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza is confident his side will provide more of a challenge to England than they did in last month’s Test series. The Tigers were well beaten by their hosts in a Test series that ended with an innings and 80 run rout inside three days at Old Trafford.

Bangladesh then lost all three of their matches at the subsequent Asia Cup one-day tournament in Sri Lanka. Add to this, they have never beaten England in any format and the hosts come into the match on the back of a 3-2 one-day series win over Australia.

Mortaza, appointed captain for this series after Shakib Al Hasan was dumped from the post, told reporters at Trent Bridge here on Wednesday: “It isn’t going to be easy against England. We have to play good cricket, hopefully we can do it and perform well this time.

“I think we are a better team in one-day cricket than in Test cricket and I think this game suits us,” added the 26-year-old pace bowler. AFP

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2010.