Tigers looking forward to keep winning spree against Ireland

Bangladesh are looking forward to work on their combination for the upcoming world cup and at the same time keep their winning momentum going when they take on Ireland in the three-match series opener on Tuesday at Chelmsford in England. The match starts at 3PM, Bangladesh Time.

The series which is particularly important for the Irish is being held in England due to the inclement weather back in Ireland.

Ireland need to whitewash Bangladesh to make a direct entry to the ICC ODI Cricket World Cup in October-November in India. Bangladesh however have no problem in this regard as they have already qualified to the World Cup.

All the Tigers need is to keep the winning momentum going and get used to a template with which they will play the World Cup. Ireland series is perfect to work on the template.

"We need to rotate the players and see what combination will work for us," Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal said. 

"In Asian condition we will play an extra spinner while in England obviously an extra pacer will play. We want to give us the best chance to win the match. But there are some series coming up ahead of the world cup and we'll work on our style."

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha earlier said they want to get used to attacking brand of cricket to cope with modern cricket. 

"We're going to play positive, aggressive cricket. It doesn't mean that we will hit every ball out of the park. Aggressive cricket means that everything we do, we do very positive, aggressive intent as well as the decision making," Hathurisingha had said recently.

"Also it's going to be aggressive whether the selection with the field placing, whether it's the type of ball that we decide to ball, so we want to give them that to go and express themselves."

According to stat, Ireland are no match for the Tigers. Of the 13 ODI matches between the two sides, Bangladesh won nine and lost just two while two matches were washed out.

Ireland won the maiden encounter between the two sides in 2007 ODI World Cup in Bridgetown, West Indies but last time they beat Bangladesh in ODI cricket in 2010 at Belfast. They could never put up any resistance in the matches they played against Bangladesh.

Very recently, Bangladesh won the three-match ODI series between the two sides at home by 2-0 and that too breaking several records. They also put up their highest ODI total 349-6 in the second with Mushfiqur Rahim hitting the fastest century by a Bangladeshi player, smashing ton off 60 balls but the match was washed out.

Bangladesh also won the three-match T20 series by 2-1 and beat Ireland in the one-off Test at home.

"The openers need to maximize this field restriction. If you're batting in the middle or then you're coming in different scenarios like sometimes four out, sometimes five out (fielders). So it's important how you want to start," Bangladesh head coach said.

"So if you don't practice that the way you want to start, once you go into the middle then you'll get sucked into the situation which we don't want. We want them to have a clear mind how they have been always regardless of the situation."

Line Ups:

Squad: Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Rony Talukdar, Najmul Hossain, Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Yasir Ali, Mehidy Hasan, Taijul Islam, Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Hasan Mahmud, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury.

Ireland: Andy Balbirnie (capt), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Fionn Hand, Graham Hume, Josh Little, Andy McBrine, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.