England take on Bangladesh in Match 12 of the ICC Cricket World Cup in Cardiff on Saturday and the tournament hosts are bidding to bounce back from a surprise defeat last time out.

England:

England’s tournament began with a 104 run victory over the Proteas at the Oval but they were on the wrong end of a shock result in their second outing, going down to Pakistan in Nottingham by 14 runs.

It was a cracking game at Trent Bridge with Pakistan posting a healthy 348/8 in their 50 overs (Ali 3/50, Woakes 3/71). With such a powerful batting line up and a very decent wicket England were still favourites “in play” at the innings break but they lost both openers in the first 9 overs of the chase. Joe Root helped put England back on course with 107, Morgan and Stokes fell cheaply but Jos Buttler smashed 103 off just 76 balls and at that stage an England victory looked to be on the cards. It wasn’t to be as Pakistan held their nerve and England’s innings closed on 334/9.

England can currently be backed at 2/1 to win outright, the same price they were trading at pre-tournament.

Joe Root is leading run scorer for England with 158, Jos Buttler has 121 and Ben Stokes is next best with 102. Moeen Ali is leading wicket taker with 4 whilst Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes have 3.

This was how England lined up against Pakistan last time out.

Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (captain), Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Adi Rashid, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer

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12

Bangladesh:

Bangladesh have been great to watch in their two matches so far. They caused the first major surprise of the tournament with a 21 run victory over South Africa at The Oval and then ran New Zealand close at the same venue on Wednesday.

Batting first against the Black Caps Bangladesh were all out for 244 (49.2 overs) with Shakib Al Hasan, who made 75 against the Proteas, top scoring with 64. Five other batsman got starts with scores in the 20’s but couldn’t kick on. The target looked vulnerable and especially so when New Zealand were 160/2 but the Bangladesh bowlers refused to throw in the towel. Although New Zealand got up with 2.5 overs to spare the margin of victory eventually clocked in at just 2 wickets.

Bangladesh can currently be backed at 66/1 to win the tournament and 18/1 to reach the final.

Shakib Al Hasan is the top run scorer for Bangladesh with 139 and Mushfiqur Rahim has made 97. Mohammad Saifuddin is leading wicket taker with 4, Mehidy Hasan, Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman all have 3.

This was how Bangladesh lined up against New Zealand last time out.

Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Mustafizur Rahman

Head to Head

The teams have met 20 times with 16 wins for England and 4 for Bangladesh

The most recent meeting came in the Champions Trophy at The Oval in June 2017 and England won it by 8 wickets.

In World Cup 2015 in Adelaide Bangladesh beat England by 15 runs, a result that effectively sealed England’s early exit from the tournament.

The Betting, Click here for all markets

England 1 / 6

Bangladesh 9/2

Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.

Verdict:

Bangladesh have shown they are not to be underestimated and they won’t have lost any heart from a narrow defeat to New Zealand. However England ought to win this comfortably given their firepower. For a betting interest we look to Jonny Bairstow in the Player Performance market where 1 point is awarded per run, 20 points per wicket, 10 points per catch and 25 points per stumping.

Bairstow has yet to catch fire in this tournament but he was in terrific form with the bat in the IPL recently. He is also strategically placed in the field so the possibility of a catch or two also makes him an attractive proposition.

Suggested Bets:

Player Performances, Jonny Bairstow over 48.5 points at 9/10

Click here for all CWC markets.

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