Ban vs Eng 1st ODI - Kieswetter Set For England Debut

Dhaka: South Africa-born Craig Kieswetter will play for England in the first one-day international against Bangladesh on Sunday.

Despite never having lost to Bangladesh, captain Alastair Cook says England won't take the home side lightly as they prepare for the first of three one-day internationals starting on Sunday.

England had won all eight previous ODIs between them, but Cook said on Saturday that Bangladesh was capable of beating any team.

Even so, he also believed his team had enough strength to counter Bangladesh's spin attack, which he considered the host's main strength.

Fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza will play for Bangladesh for the first time since he damaged his knee last July during the first test against West Indies in the Caribbean.

He said Bangladesh was playing well enough to beat England, and it will depend largely on the spinners.

"Spinners will have to take the lead, but I will also try to give my best," he said at practice at Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, the venue of Sunday's game.

Bangladesh omitted former captain Mohammad Ashraful from its 13-member squad for the one-day series.

Pacemen Shahadat Hossain and Nazmul Hossain were also left out, with the selectors giving a first chance to allrounder Mohammed Sohrawardy.

Sohrawardy, the former captain of Bangladesh Under-19s, scored 191 runs and took 21 wickets in five games in the domestic league.

Shafiul Islam, who impressed the selectors during the recent tour of New Zealand by taking seven wickets at a cost of only 23 runs each, was expected to Mortaza's main pace partner.

The teams will also play a two-test series starting on March 12.

Team news

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh's leading pace bowler, may not be risked for the opening match despite coming through the warm-up game against England for the BCB XI following his latest knee injury. Spin is likely to play a key role in their plans as they aim to exploit a traditional weakness of England in one-day cricket.

Squad (from): Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Zunaid Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Mohammed Sohrawardy.

England: One change is forced with Cook leading the team in place of Strauss, but Kieswetter's form has put the cat amongst the pigeons and he will force Jonathan Trott out of the XI.

Squad (from): Alastair Cook (captain), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Joe Denly, Craig Kieswetter, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior, Kevin Pietersen, Liam Plunkett, Ryan Sidebottom, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright.

Pitch and conditions
Stuart Broad has said he will use plenty of slower balls and cutters, as he did in Sri Lanka in 2007, so it could turn into a battle of attrition. Dew could be issue later in the evening and it was often a problem during the recent tri-series involving India and Sri Lanka.

Stats and trivia

• In eight ODIs against Bangladesh, England have not really come close to a defeat. On the 2003-04 tour they won all three matches by seven wickets. The closest they came to slipping up was in the most recent meeting, at the 2007 World Cup, when England made heavy work of chasing 144.
• In that last meeting, Shakib hit an unbeaten 57 and Abdur Razzaq, who could play here, caused problems with his left-arm spin as he took 2 for 30 - his scalps being Strauss and Pietersen.
• Only two of the England side have played against Bangladesh before - Pietersen and Paul Collingwood. 

Match facts
Sunday February 28, 2010
Start time 14:00 local (08:00 GMT)