Bangladesh brace for more woe

James Richardson
October 14, 2017

Ahead of their three match ODI series against South Africa, Bangladesh are a team in desperate need of a lift.

Much of the squad were involved in the demoralizing defeats in the two Test matches.

They will be looking for inspiration from ODI skipper Mashrafe Mortaza and superstar allrounder Shakib-al-Hasan.

Both were part of the Tigers XI that were downed by an Invitational XI packed full of form franchise players and young talent.

Shakib top scored with 68 but the top order struggled against the likes of Robbie Frylinck and Malusi Siboto.

Mashrafe could only bag the scalp of young opener Matthew Breetzke in that warm-up match he was among the more frugal of the bowlers though and will surely be looking to contain the explosive Proteas top-order on what could be an absolute road in Kimberley.

The Proteas themselves will likely look to continue to bully the Bangladesh top-order with pace using allrounders to contain and Imran Tahir’s leg spin to strike.

South Africa have a settled batting unit although there are some questions about the form of both JP Duminy and AB de Villiers who both managed starts for the invitational XI but weren’t overly convincing.

It is unclear where Temba Bavuma will bat having made his ODI debut opening the batting, he scored a hundred against Ireland but hasn’t featured since and is likely to bat in the middle order either at five or six if he features at all.

David Miller enjoys batting in Kimberley especially and will be making his hundredth ODI appearance in a game expected to set the tone for the series.

Openers Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock will be looking to get their team off to flying starts in this series and both appear to be in the mood to score runs.

The odds are stacked against Bangladesh even if this is a format where they have improved immensely over the last few years.

The Bangladesh quicks will have to adapt to the white Kookaburra ball and try to prevent the Proteas from blasting them out of the attack.

Key Players

You cannot look past Amla at the moment, since returning from England he looks to be back to his best and his ability to seamlessly shift into a higher scoring rate can take the game away from even the best opposition.

Tahir is not the number one ODI bowler in the world for no reason, when South Africa do well he is almost always part of that success.

Tamim Iqbal is the kind of X-factor player who could produce a magical innings for Bangladesh.

Shakib is going to need to take wickets in the middle overs for Bangladesh to avoid allowing South Africa’s hitters too much freedom.

Squads

Proteas ODI squad: Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada

Bangladesh ODI squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin

ODI fixtures South Africa v Bangladesh:

October 15: 1st ODI, Diamond Oval, Kimberley

October 18: 2nd ODI, Boland Park, Paarl

October 22: 3rd ODI, Buffalo Park, East London