Ben Stokes, the prominent England all-rounder, is expected to miss England’s upcoming 2023 World Cup game against Bangladesh. A hip injury prevented the 32-year-old from participating in the tournament’s opening match against New Zealand. BBC Sport reports that Stokes engaged in a light practice session and some jogging in Dharamshala. Nonetheless, the versatile all-rounder experienced discomfort.
Considering Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott’s criticism of the Dharamshala pitch following their match against Bangladesh, Bangladesh might take that into account when forming their game strategy.
England faced a heavy nine-wicket defeat against New Zealand when Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra both scored centuries to chase down 283 runs in just 36.2 overs. Joe Root was the sole England batsman to reach a half-century, leading the team with 77 runs.
“England lacked Ben Stokes’ expertise to help them surpass their target”- Nasser Hussain
After the defeat, former England captain Nasser Hussain penned a cautionary piece in his Daily Mail column, advising England to avoid further mistakes in the tournament.
“England missed the nous of Ben Stokes to get them above par, and they will just have to be better from now on. The one good thing is that perhaps they have got their bad performance out of the way early – if they did this in the semi-finals it would be all over. There are a lot of good teams in this tournament and if England are to get into the top four they cannot afford any more slip-ups.”
England’s next match will be against Bangladesh, who had a convincing victory over Afghanistan in their opening game. Bangladesh’s spin bowlers played a significant role in restricting Afghanistan to 156 runs, and they successfully chased the target with six wickets in hand, with Najmul Hossain Shanto being the top scorer with an unbeaten 59.
However, the defending champions will draw confidence from their previous ODI series win against Bangladesh earlier this year, which took place in Bangladesh.
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