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Bangladesh v England: Women’s T20 World Cup – live


Key events

The anthems are ringing out. Not long to go.

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As a consequence of the change of venue – for those just joining us, we were supposed to be in Bangladesh but civil unrest saw a hasty shift to the UAE – England had to chuck out a whole heap of homework.

As Raf Nicholson reports, the ECB had been crunching numbers for 12 months in the hope of better understanding Bangladeshi conditions to give England an edge.

Now it’s all about vibes and talent, though captain Heather Knight says it’s business as usual.

“I don’t think our plans change too much,” Knight said this week. We’ll find out soon enough.

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Adding to the challenge is the fact that this is a used pitch.

If you’re a fan of ripping bouncers and thwacks square of the wicket and through the covers, you’re out of luck.

This is going to be a miserly game, one stacked with sweeps and hard-run twos and threes.

Fielding will also be paramount. Bangladesh shelled four catches against Scotland on Thursday.

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Bangladesh team

Riding high after their win over Scotland, they’ll back themselves.

But they need runs. Someone in the top order has to go big and give their finishers something to aim at against England’s spinners.

Their own attack is varied but will rely heavily on the seam of Marufa who is a genuine wicket-taker.

Bangladesh: Dilara, Shathi, Mostary, Joty (c, wk), Taj, Shorna, Ritu, Fajima, Rabeya, Nahida, Marufa.

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England team

Lauren Bell misses out as they stack the side with four genuine spinners and Capsey’s part-timers.

That means one of them will have to use the new/newish ball.

EnglandL Bouchier, Wyatt, Capsey, Sciver-Brunt, Knight (c), Jones (wk), Gibson, Dean, Glenn, Ecclestone, Smith.

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Heather Knight wins the toss and bats first

“It looms much easier to defend a total,” says England’s skipper after summing up conditions and opting to set a score.

They’ve gone with four spinners! Four! Should be fun.

Sultana says she would have batted first as well.

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Bangladesh have already got their campaign underway.

They beat Scotland by 16 runs in the tournament opener on Thursday.

It was their first T20 World Cup in a decade but, sadly, because of unrest back home, it took place over 3,700km away from their home country despite them serving as nominal hosts.

Their skipper, Nigar Sultana, later said, “Initially it was very heartbreaking because we were always bearing in mind that we were able to play in front of our home crowd. But this team, the people looking here today, it was brilliant, we got quite a few people supporting Bangladesh.”

Would be great if they get a whole lot of love again this afternoon.

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Heard this one before?

England have been soaking cricket balls in water in order to replicate conditions they’ll face in Dubai.

Given the sweaty conditions, with temperatures reaching almost 40C, gripping the ball will prove a challenge for bowlers, especially in evening games. Could this be the marginal gain that proves decisive?

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Australia have just spanked Sri Lanka.

Catch up with Jim’s OBO as he recounts the champions’ resounding opening win.

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Preamble

Bangladesh v England: Women’s T20 World Cup – live

Daniel Gallan

It’s been seven long years since England’s women last won an ICC event. In that time Australia have forged a dynasty, winning one 50-over jamboree and a hat-trick of T20 World Cups.

Can England knock the Aussies off their perch? Hard to say. They lost a warm-up game by 33 runs last week but did beat New Zealand by five wickets in their other pre-tournament tune-up.

They’ve promised to go harder than they’ve gone before and will lean heavily on their cohort of spinners led by the brilliant Sophie Ecclestone, the top-ranked bowler in the format and a game-changer all on her own.

The batters will have to come good on low, turning tracks, but with Nat Sciver-Brunt the highest-placed member of the group at 19th on the ICC’s metrics, this could be a problem area.

They should have too much for the (nominal) hosts, Bangladesh. Victory won’t be enough. They’ll want to send out a statement.

First ball at 3pm BST from Sharjah.

Toss report, teams and other bits to follow.

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