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6th over: 47-0 (Bouchier 23, Wyatt-Hodge 22) Nahida back into the attack and Wyatt-Hodge welcomes her with a skip down the track and a lash over cover for four. A full-toss is smeared into the leg side for one before Bouchier clips a single wide of mid-on. They might not always be on the same page, but these two sure do run hard between the wickets. There’s another single down the ground from Wyatt-Hodge before Bouchier closes out the powerplay by mowing a boundary into the gap at cow corner.
5th over: 36-0 (Bouchier 18, Wyatt-Hodge 16) Bouchier counters Marufa’s in-swing by shimmying slightly and picking up a gorgeous flick over midwicket for four. Marufa then over-corrects and offers a -spank-me’ ball that’s short and wide outside the off-stump. Bouchier duly obliges with a crisp cut.
That should have been that for Bouchier who plopped a dolly to Rabeya at backward point but it was inexplicably shelled. That was a proper howler.
Two wides at the start of the over plus four singles adds up to an expensive set. England are ticking along nicely.
Guy Hornsby sums it up perfectly:
Afternoon Daniel, afternoon everyone. I’m sure England will feel firm favourites here but. Bangladesh have shown they are no pushover. Their cadre of incredibly slow bowlers presents a real challenge, and Marufa is like a young, quick Anya Shrubsole with her inswingers. We’ll need to make 2s count with the lush outfield. And have already shown a willingness to tee up some scary run outs. Game on!
Bang on, Guy. Been really impressed with Bangladesh so far. Especially Marufa who is hooping it.
4th over: 22-0 (Bouchier 8, Wyatt-Hodge 14) Fahima’s leg spin is into the attack and she continues the strangle with a ring field. Wyatt-Hodge recognises that she has to innovate and moves across her stumps and lifts a swivel-pull over square leg for the first boundary of the innings. Shen then leans into a delicious cover drive and finds the fence again with a flourishing blade.
3rd over: 13-0 (Bouchier 7, Wyatt-Hodge 6) Another chance for a run-out! These two are a bit calamitous in the middle together. They survive, thanks to a misfield in the covers, but Wyatt-Hodge was stranded half-way down the track as Bouchier was caught ball-watching. Thankfully all’s well that ends well. Marufa’s searing in-swinging yorker is well dug out by Wyatt-Hodge as she steers a single wide of point. Marufa drags her length back and Wyatt-Hodge swishes at a cut shot but misses it by a distance. Still no boundaries.
2nd over: England 11-0 (Bouchier 6, Wyatt-Hodge 5) Nahida’s slow left-arm spin opens the other end. Her first ball is a drag down which Wyatt scythes through the off-side. The slow outfield means they have to run hard and they get back for two as it’s hauled in before the rope out in the covers. Five quick singles then rotate the strike but there’s a review for a run-out at the non-striker’s end. Wyatt was home, but a direct hit would have been tight.
1st over: England 4-0 (Bouchier 2, Wyatt-Hodge 0) Immediate swing for Marufa who has it hooping into the right handers. One ball tickles Bouchier’s pad and they collect two leg-byes down to fine leg. Bouchier then makes contact and they scamper a single to mid-off. There’s a direct hit, which requires a second view, but they’re home safe and even pinch a second on the over-throw.
Boucher and Wyatt-Hodge are padded up and ready to go.
Nasser Hussain has just said that England have the best T20 record this year. Under John Lewish they’ve been uber-aggressive.
Today, though, they face a Bangladesh bowling attack that will bowl slow and release it low, which is exactly what England’s dashers don’t enjoy facing.
Should be a fascinating contest. Marufa, a rare seamer today, has the ball and will look to swing it in to the right handers.
The anthems are ringing out. Not long to go.
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.
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.
Bangladesh teamRiding 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.
England teamLauren 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.
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.
Nigar Sultana Joty of Bangladesh and Heather Knight of England look on during the coin toss. Photograph: Matthew Lewis/ICC/Getty ImagesBangladesh 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.
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?
Australia have just spanked Sri Lanka.
Catch up with Jim’s OBO as he recounts the champions’ resounding opening win.
Preamble
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.