WOOD’S ON ICE
Quickie frozen out again to stay fresh for Aussies
ENGLAND will hold back Mark Wood in readiness for Australia and stick to plan A for their first-ever T20 clash with Bangladesh.
The super quick bowler missed Saturday’s opening win against West Indies with an ankle niggle and head coach Chris Silverwood suggested he would be back for game two.
But that now looks likely to be pushed back to Saturday’s game three against the Aussies.
Even without Wood (inset),
England are confident they will be able to keep up their strong record against Bangladesh from other formats.
The Tigers have won just one Test and four ODIS against England in 31 attempts and, after having to qualify for the Super 12s before losing to Sri Lanka, a win over Eoin Morgan’s team would be a huge upset.
“The side is balanced well whichever route we go down,” said vice-captain Jos Buttler.
“Woody is one of those guys with express pace and we know what a factor he can be when he is fully fit.
“But we had most bases covered in the first match and I can’t see conditions being too different from the first game.”
England benefited from the skills of their spinners Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid against the Windies and they can expect their own trial by spin today.
It is an area that England have become increasingly good at dealing with in whiteball cricket but they are still prone to the odd mishap.
And with Bangladesh opening their bowling with two spinners, it is a challenge that
Buttler and Jason Roy in particular will have to meet head on. Buttler added: “We know the challenges they’ll pose, they are a spin-heavy side. They can be dangerous. “Spin is something we’ll see throughout this tournament – it’s been a prevalent part of the powerplay. “I’m just trying to be really clinical, picking length and trying to be positive with that option.”
ASIF ALI scored 27 runs off just 12 balls to power Pakistan to a five-wicket victory over New Zealand and put them on course for the last four.