Bangladesh clash with Sri Lanka in the ICC Cricket World Cup at the County Ground Bristol on Tuesday, a game both sides should view as a very realistic opportunity for a victory.
Bangladesh:
Bangladesh were no match for England in Cardiff on Saturday when they went down by 104 runs and they come into this game with 1 win and 2 defeats to show for their efforts so far. They won the toss and put the tournament favourites into bat at the weekend and their bowling attack was taken to pieces by Jason Roy who made 154 of England’s bat first total of 386/6. Chasing the biggest total of the tournament so far Bangladesh were never really in it but Shakib Al Hasan’s fine form continued as he made 121 as Bangladesh were all out for 280in 48.5 overs.
Earlier in the tournament Bangladesh caused the first major surprise with a 21 run victory over South Africa at The Oval and they ran New Zealand close at the same venue in their second outing, losing by just 2 wickets when tasked with defending 244.
Bangladesh can currently be backed at 125/1 to win the tournament, 22/1 to reach the final and 9/1 to reach the semi finals.
Shakib Al Hasan is the top run scorer for Bangladesh with 260, Mushfiqur Rahim has made 141 and Mahmudullah has 94. Mohammad Saifuddin is leading wicket taker with 6, Mehidy Hasan has 5 and Mustafizur Rahman has 4.
This was how Bangladesh lined up against England last time out.
Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Mustafizur Rahman
Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka’s third match of the tournament against Pakistan last Friday was abandoned without a ball being bowled after heavy rain in Bristol and they now have 1 win, 1 draw and 1 defeat against their name.
Having being crushed by 10 wickets against New Zealand in their opening match Sri Lanka eventually came through a tricky looking contest against Afghanistan with a 34 run (DLS) victory at Cardiff in their second outing. They had made just 136 against New Zealand and their batting line up was also fragile against Afghanistan as they were bowled out for 201 in 36.5 overs of a rain affected game. It would have been far worse had Kusal Perera not made 78 at the top of the order as Sri Lanka collapsed after a 92 run opening stand.
The target was revised down and Sri Lanka held their nerve with Nuwan Pradeep the star bowler, returning figures of 4/31 in his 9 overs.
Sri Lanka remain rank outsiders to win the tournament at around 200/1, they can be backed at 25/1 to reach the final and 14/1 to reach the semi’s.
Kusal Perera is leading run scorer for Sri Lanka with 107 runs in the tournament so far and Dimuth Karunaratne has made 85. With the ball Nuwan Pradeep has taken 4 wickets and Malinga has 3.
This was how Sri Lanka lined up against Afghanistan last week.
Lahiru Thirimanne, Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Kusal Perera (wk), Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga
Head to Head
The teams have met 45 times with Bangladesh winning 7, Sri Lanka have won 36 with 2 no results,
The most recent meeting came in September 2018 in the Asia Cup group stage and Bangladesh won by 137 runs.
The Betting, Click here for all markets
Bangladesh 4/6
Sri Lanka 12/10
Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
Verdict:
Bangladesh have been the more impressive of these two sides in the early matches but their bowlers were decidedly average against England and to me they represent little value in the match result market.
The Sri Lankan bowling also looks pretty average and with that in mid we look to any century to be scored in the match.
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