England in must-win match against Bangladesh

England coach Peter Moores is confident his beleaguered team will rise to the occasion in today’s must-win Cricket World Cup clash against Bangladesh, saying the players were “excited” by the challenge ahead.

Eoin Morgan’s side, with just one win in four matches, must beat both Bangladesh at the Adelaide Oval and Afghanistan in Sydney on March 13 to stay in contention for the last eight.

Even that may not be enough if Bangladesh, who have five points to England’s two, upset co-hosts New Zealand in Hamilton on March 13 to squeak through to the quarter-finals from Pool A.

Moores admitted it was a pressure game which his team was ready to handle and prove critics wrong by making their way to the quarterfinals.

“There is certainly pressure on us as a team because we have not played as well as we would have liked to have done,” Moores said yesterday.

“We know we’ve got to win the game.

“The ability to be able to handle pressure and play under pressure is part of the job of being an international player. So that will be the challenge for the players tomorrow,” the under-pressure coach added.

“We’re very aware of it, and I think we are up for that challenge.”

Moores said the World Cup campaign had been a good learning experience for the younger players, who now had to prove they belong at the highest level of the game.

“International cricket is played by tough men,” he said. “There is no compromising that. We’ve got senior players whose responsibility is to help the others.

“Some of our younger players have been through some pretty tough experiences and they have to adapt to them, and they have to be able to then come back with something.

“Yes, it’s a pressure game. But I only see a lot of people very excited to play and they feel they’ve got a point to prove and they want to go out and start proving that.

“The only place to do that is on the cricket field.”

England lost to Bangladesh by two wickets in the previous World Cup in 2011 – a match in which Morgan made 63 – but still survived the shock defeat to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Moores, asked if this was a revenge match, said what happened four years ago did not matter anymore.

“We have a different group of players who are very focused on how we are going to play tomorrow and how we are going to play the best game we can. That is the most important thing for us.”

Moores said the playing XI had been picked, but refused to reveal the team, increasing speculation whether hard-hitting batsman Alex Hales will get his first game in the tournament.

“We’re pretty clear on what that XI is now but we will announce that at the toss,” he said.

“You’ve obviously got to get the best XI out to win a game and we know we have got a really big game tomorrow.”

Moores predicted a high-scoring match on the drop-in pitch at the Adelaide Oval.

“It’s historically been a good batting pitch here and I expect it to be full of runs,” he said.

“We’ll put out what we think is the best team to be able to take wickets and put Bangladesh under pressure.” — AFP