Strauss refuses to open up with any secrets

(Reuters) - England will keep Bangladesh guessing until they name their line-up just before Friday’s World Cup game with the key opening position in the batting order still a tightly held secret.

Captain Andrew Strauss lost his partner in the No 2 spot when Kevin Pietersen was forced to return home at the start of the week with a hernia and he refused to divulge who he has in mind to replace him at a Thursday news conference here.

“I have decided on the opening batsman but like we always do we are not going to say who that is before the game starts,” Strauss said.

“Obviously, there is nothing to be gained by saying this at this stage but we are very clear in our minds about who our best opening batsman will be.”

Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior and Ian Bell are all candidates to step in for Pietersen who did a reasonable job helping Strauss launch the England innings but failed to match his captain’s run-making which included 158 against India in a tied match.

A win for England and defeat on the same day for Ireland against West Indies would put Strauss’s men into the last eight with one qualifying round match left against the team from the Caribbean on March 17.

 Despite home advantage -- or possibly because of it after the way the crowd turned on Bangladesh in their last match against the West Indies which they lost by nine wickets [ID:nLDE7290RW] -- England are favourites to win.

England have lost to Bangladesh only once in their previous 14 encounters and have an outstanding 6-0 record against their hosts in the sub-continent.

Strauss, typically, is taking nothing for granted.

“They are a very dangerous side, especially at home. They have got a lot of shot-makers in their top order and some very good spin bowlers,” he said.

“We are very aware that they are likely to come out very determined to put on a better show than they did against the West Indies and that makes them even more dangerous.

“It is a must win game for Bangladesh and they are going to be 100 percent committed. We have to make sure we are better than them on the day.”

He continued: “The crowd is going to be 100 percent behind Bangladesh and that is going to be a hostile atmosphere for us.

“But if you want to win World Cups you can’t have everything on your own terms. You have got to deal with that and I think we will do so,” he said.

Strauss also refused to drop any hints over whether they would opt for an additional spinner instead of a fast bowler to replace paceman Stuart Broad, who has returned home with a side strain.

Chris Tremlett joined Eoin Morgan to give injury-hit England a double lift, replacing Broad and Pietersen respectively, but it remained unclear if both of them would play on Friday.

“We are very fortunate we have two ready-made replacements in Eoin Morgan, whose (broken) finger has just recovered in time, and Chris Tremlett who bowls very similarly to Stuart Broad,” said Strauss.

“It could have been worse in some ways but those guys need to come in and hit the ground running if they do get a go,” he said.