Bangladesh may crack under the pressure against England '“ Moeen Ali

England all-rounder Moeen Ali believes Bangladesh are more susceptible to buckling under pressure ahead of their one-day series decider in Chittagong today.
Moeen Ali.Moeen Ali.
Moeen Ali.

The Tigers levelled the three-match series with an impressive 34-run victory on Sunday in Dhaka but they arguably should have an unassailable lead after a dramatic collapse in the opener.

Chasing 310 for victory last Friday, Bangladesh seemed to be cruising on 271-4 but they lost their last six wickets for 17 runs, while earlier this year they were defeated by India in the ICC World Twenty20, despite needing only two to win from three balls.

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Those setbacks linger in the memory, according to Moeen, who acknowledges England are also sometimes vulnerable in high-stakes scenarios.

He said: “We know that if we put them under pressure – like we saw in the first game – they can crack a bit more than the bigger sides. Hopefully, we can do that again.

“We saw in the World Cup when they played India, they messed that up as well.

“We know it will take them a bit more time to get over that kind of stuff. It took us years and years and we still sometimes, under pressure, don’t play as well.”

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Moeen is not under-estimating Bangladesh, though, with the hosts looking to wrap up their seventh home series success in the 50-over format, having toppled Pakistan, India and South Africa during that run.

“They are a good side with some very good players,” continued Moeen. “The have not lost their last six series and beaten some good sides like India, Pakistan and South Africa. They are hard to beat at home. We don’t have that sort of record at home.”

The second ODI was overshadowed by the incident that followed Jos Buttler’s dismissal, with the England captain engaged in angry exchanges with several Bangladesh fielders for what he felt were over-exuberant celebrations.

Buttler was given an official reprimand by the International Cricket Council, while opposite number Mashrafe Mortaza and Sabbir Rahman were fined 20 per cent of their match fees for their part in the incident.

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Moeen said: “It did get a bit heated. I think both teams have players who can get a bit heated, it just spices things up a little more and now, hopefully, we can come out on top.

“Jos has a lot of fire in his belly. You should see the warm-ups, like the football, he’s probably the most fiery out of all of us.

“He’s probably not as calm as people think he is. He looks it, but he is very fiery in terms of his cricket, and is very passionate and gets fired up.”

There was further controversy at the end of the match when the players were shaking hands as Ben Stokes seemed to confront Tamim Iqbal although the ICC decided not to investigate that incident.

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Asked whether the flashpoints would up the ante for the decider, Moeen said: “It has a little bit. We really want to win the series and want to stop them winning too. We’ll be giving everything for that.”

Whether they get the chance remains to be seen. England were forced indoors after heavy rain an hour into their only practice session in Chittagong and poor weather is forecast for today.

Bangladesh captain Mortaza said: “This is a matter of concern because we have to think how the weather will behave.”

Despite accepting his sanction from match referee Javagal Srinath, Mortaza does not think Bangladesh’s celebrations as Buttler left the field were over the top.

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When asked if he would apologise to Buttler, Mortaza said: “Actually we didn’t do anything wrong so we shouldn’t do that.

“Whatever we feel, we just celebrated, we don’t have to say sorry but whatever things happened, the match referee was there. Still, I feel that the boys just celebrated.”

Bangladesh (possible): M Mortaza (capt), T Iqbal, I Kayes, S Rahman, M Rahim (wkt), S Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, N Hossain, S Islam, T Ahmed.

England (possible): J Buttler (capt), J Roy, J Vince, B Duckett, J Bairstow, B Stokes, M Ali, C Woakes, D Willey, A Rashid, J Ball.

Umpires: Marais Erasmus (SA).

Third umpire: Aleem Dar (Pak).

Match referee: Javagal Srinath (Ind).

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Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak, 42, has taken over as his country’s new head coach from interim coach Makhaya Ntini.

Streak’s first assignment will be a two-match home Test series against Sri Lanka at the end of this month and he said: “For me, having captained this country, to be offered the post of head coach is a great honour.”

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