ICC World Twenty20: England back on track
ICC World Twenty20: England back on track after 4th biggest run chase in the games format.
Alex Hales scored a stupendous unbeaten century as England recovered from a dire display in the field to beat Sri Lanka at the World Twenty20.
The Nottinghamshire star struck six sixes and 11 fours in an unbelievable innings of 116 not out as England won by six wickets with four balls to spare.
England’s victory was even more remarkable as they were 0-2 when chasing Sri Lanka’s total of 189-4 after they had produced a terrible fielding display, dropping numerous catches with Tim Bresnan and Jade Dernbach particularly culpable.
I’m absolutely buzzing, centuries in this format don’t come along very often and I’ve got out in the nineties a couple of times so this is brilliant.
Alex Hales
Mahela Jayawardene made 89 but England were a shambles and looked set to be heading for an embarrassing defeat when Michael Lumb and Moeen Ali were both dismissed for ducks.
However, Hales and Eoin Morgan (57) put on 152 runs for the third wicket and, although Jos Buttler was out for only four, Ravi Bopara (11 not out) helped Hales get England to their unlikely target.
Hales said afterwards: “I’m absolutely buzzing, centuries in this format don’t come along very often and I’ve got out in the nineties a couple of times so this is brilliant.
“Eoin Morgan made my job a hell of a lot easier by hitting those sixes in the middle of the innings.”
England are now 12/1 to win the World Twenty20 while Sri Lanka are 4/1.
England captain Stuart Broad said of Hales: “That’s one of the best innings I’ve seen in an England shirt in any format. We’ve been practising fielding with wet balls, I think we’re going to have to make them wet bars of soap as we kept dropping their key men.
“Our next game is under lights and we’ve got away with it today after an unbelievable knock from two of our guys, but we can’t keep dropping people. We’ve got to win both remaining games, but the belief and confidence we’ll take from winning this game will be massive.”
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Today’s big match preview…..
India take on the hosts Bangladesh in Mirpur on Friday and we expect MS Dhoni’s side to maintain their 100{70aeb3532cb26dbe277d25ea128ebb74de84b9bd22e1583b0eb1b73768e061f6} record.
Bangladesh vs India
Start Time: 13:30 GMT
TV: Live on Sky Sports 2
Bangladesh
Cricket in Bangladesh is in a pretty poor state right now after a straight run of losses in the Asia Cup that included a historic win for Afghanistan. So far in this competition, Mushfiqur Rahim’s side have added defeat to Hong Kong to a list of dismal performances and that was compounded by another weak display against the West Indies.
Despite a partisan home following, it’s hard to see how the host nation can possibly expect to take the points against an Indian team that has two wins from two in this tournament so far.
In T20 cricket anything can happen but the onus is on the batsmen to post a big score. Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque will also need to stay together at the top of the innings as the middle order looks vulnerable and the bowling too weak to defend a total.
India
Ms Dhoni’s side have bowled first in both of their opening matches but have made fairly hard work of chasing down small totals. Against Pakistan they reached a modest target of 131 in 18.3 overs while India had just two balls remaining when they overtook West Indies’ total of 129.
Indian supporters will argue that they had everything under control but it does suggest Bangladesh have a chance if they can score in excess of 150 – 160.
Dhoni’s bowling attack were expected to be the weaker link but the spinners Ashwin, Mishra and Jadeja have been penetrative if not always economical and if they can receive better support from the batsmen, India should stroll this game.
Expect a stronger performance from key men Kohli and Dhawan who have been relatively subdued so far.
Venue and Conditions
Four games at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur have produced an average first innings score of 155 but that figure is a little skewed by the two low scores against India. Pakistan produced a total of 191 against Australia while the West Indies blasted their way to 171 against Bangladesh so the team batting first should look to target 165 – 170 as a minimum.
The forecast is for unbroken sunshine with temperatures hitting the late thirties and thankfully none of the recent rain so it should be a case of bat first and get a big total on the board.
Bangladesh are the outside bet here at 4.8 but if their openers can get off to a fast start and build a strong first wicket partnership then they could post a sizeable total that would put India under pressure.
There are a lot of ifs in that statement and while we haven’t seen the best of India so far, we’re expecting their key batters to score big and deliver a modest profit at 1.25.
Openers Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque have looked potent at times in this tournament but both need to stay at the crease and make the bigger match winning scores. You can pick up either man at around 3.75 while Shakib al-Hasan is left to shore up the top order collapses and is a far more reliable option at 4.50 or possibly better.
Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim is a consistent scorer in all forms of the game and is tempting at around the 5.0 mark but Shakib is our tip.
The winner in any top Indian batsman market usually comes from a limited pool of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli. The top three are so strong that it’s rare for anyone else to deliver although the skipper Dhoni does occasionally come in as a high priced outsider.
Dhawan is the man out of form but the left hander is a threat at 3.75 or higher while Sharma made a match winning 62 against the West Indies and is at around 4.0 for this game. Never rule out Dhoni at 7.0 or possibly better but, while Kohli is more than a flat track bully, he does enjoy himself against the weaker sides and is my tip if you can get 3.75 or better once the market is liquid.
Suggested Bets
Back Virat Kohli for top India batsman at 3.75 or better
ICC World T20 2014 schedule: Match time table with venue details
Betting….
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