Tigers ready for various conditions against England

Low and slow tracks have been the norm when teams from outside the subcontinent such as England or Australia have toured Bangladesh for bilateral series, but with a balanced squad announced for the ODI series against England on Thursday, the team management is hoping not only to get good performances from the in-form ODI side, but preparing them for the challenges ahead with the ODI World Cup in eight months' time. Without a real shake-up, some players have been excluded as selectors look to add more options going forward.

The Tigers have recently beaten a strong India outfit 2-1 at home in ODIs and before that had beaten South Africa in South Africa on tracks that were fast and offered lots of runs. The management believes that the required balance is there to test England on the kind of conditions that will be on offer.

"We have a settled team that is performing. At the same time, England is playing a different kind of cricket and it won't be easy. It will be a good competition. Since we are playing at home, we are hopeful [of winning] but it will be tough,' selector Habibul Bashar told The Daily Star regarding expectations following the announcement of the squad for the first two ODIs.

The Tigers' performances in ODIs over the past few years and the rise of a pace unit sees the selectors in good stead in ODI cricket and, with the ODI World Cup ahead, the set-up for the England series has been done with required balance for various kinds of conditions.

"We haven't decided how to establish our home advantage yet [for the England ODIs]]. If you look at the side, there are four pacers in the team and three spinners. We could go in any direction in terms of conditions after sorting out what might work best," he said.

With wickets in the just-concluded BPL impressing due to the runs on offer, would the management prefer such wickets? A slower track has favoured Bangladesh here and may come into play given that the team wants to continue the winning habit. But the impending ODI World Cup means there is a possibility of different conditions.

"Let's see what we decide. The World Cup will be played on such wickets [like BPL's]. Normally when teams like England come here, we have slow tracks to take advantage of the conditions and that could also happen since winning is a very good habit. But we also won in South Africa in their conditions so I don't feel there is a lot of thinking needed in this regard. We still have some time to decide the conditions," Bashar said.

The presence of Taijul Islam instead of Nasum Ahmed also means that option of tried-and-tested spin conditions remain viable.

"Since we have Shakib [Al Hasan] and [Mehedi Hasan] Miraz, if there are turning tracks on offer, Taijul is more effective than other bowlers," Bashar opined on Taijul's inclusion.

"Hridoy didn't only get a chance due to his BPL performances. He has been with the High Performance team and last year he did well for the A side. If you look at his record, he scored lots of runs in first-class and BCL. His performance in the BPL was definitely extraordinary, but he has performed well in the last two years in both white-ball and red-ball formats," he said about Hridoy's inclusion.

The likes of Anamul Haque and Nurul Hasan were dropped for the likes of Hridoy. Anamul's exclusion came since selectors felt Najmul Hossain Shanto had made a mark. "Shanto has been batting well and is a good fielder and is a team man. So, from a strategic point of view, he is in Bijoy's place," Bashar said.

It was learned the Nurul's exclusion was not due to performance but because management preferred a shorter squad and did not need three wicketkeeping options.