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ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: England vs Bangladesh - Preview

Staring at an unexpected early exit, beleaguered England would be desperate to get their act together when they take on higher-placed Bangladesh in a do-or-die cricket World Cup Pool A league match here on Monday.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: England vs Bangladesh - Preview

Adelaide: Staring at an unexpected early exit, beleaguered England would be desperate to get their act together when they take on higher-placed Bangladesh in a do-or-die cricket World Cup Pool A league match here on Monday.



Having lost three of their four matches so far, England need nothing less than victories in the remaining two league games -- against Bangladesh and Afghanistan -- to stay in contention for the last eight stage.

Bangladesh, with two wins from as many matches, are placed higher than England in the table at fourth position and the Asian team would be looking to consolidate its position.

England had lost to Bangladesh by two wickets in the last World Cup in 2011 but still survived the shock defeat to qualify for the quarter-finals. However, there will be no such second chance this time.

The English side has lost to all Test-playing nations so far in the -- Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka -- and their lone win has come against minnows Scotland.

In fact, in their previous match against Sri Lanka, England failed to defend even a reasonably challenging target of 310 with nine wickets and 16 deliveries to spare.

Come tomorrow, England will have to play as an unit.

There has been a hundred each in the current tournament from Moeen Ali against Scotland and Joe Root in a losing cause against Sri Lanka, but just two other England batsmen have scored half-centuries so far in the tournament.

Under Eoin Morgan's leadership, England would hope to rise to the occasion in the make-or-break clash.

Although Morgan himself has managed to score just 90 runs at an average of 22.50, his biggest concern will be the performance of his two pace spearheads James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Anderson's two wickets so far have come at an unusually high average of 91 while Broad averages 92 for his two scalps.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh have ensured that sharing points with Australia in the rained-off match in Brisbane has not been wasted.

Having beaten Afghanistan before losing to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh overhauled Scotland's 318 for eight with 11 balls to spare, losing just four wickets in the process. It was the second-best winning chase in World Cup history after Ireland's 329 to defeat England in a Bangalore thriller in 2011.

But Bangladesh are without batsman Anamul Haque, who has been ruled out for the ongoing tournament due to a dislocated shoulder.

However, the Mashrafe Mortaza-led side would certainly fancy their chances against an off-colour England tomorrow and take a step forward in making it past the first round only the second time in the World Cup 

Teams (from):

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Soumya Sarkar, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Taijul Islam, Arafat Sunny, Shafiul Islam.

England: Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Joe Root, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes.