England consider a third spinner as they eye quarterfinal slot

If it was the football World Cup, England would be in deep trouble just to be able to put together a fully fit XI.

First star batsman Kevin Pietersen flew home complaining of a hernia, and then all-rounder Stuart Broad, whose bowling won the game against tournament co-favorites South Africa, pulled out of the tournament with another side strain that had curtailed his Ashes series.

But this being the more gentlemanly game of cricket, England have been allowed to call up replacements for the injured players: dynamic middle order batsman Eoin Morgan, his broken finger healed, is a positive improvement, while Chris Tremlett, who blitzed the Australian batting order when drafted in to the Test series, is hardly a shabby second-string paceman.

England play one of the co-hosts, Bangladesh, on Friday in the knowledge that a victory will secure them a place in the quarter-finals.

Bangladesh are the newest of first-class cricketing nations, and among the weakest. But they managed to snaffle a win against England in one of their one-day games on tour last summer, so Andrew Strauss’s men will not be underestimating them.

After snatching an unlikely victory over South Africa, England are also thought to be considering adopting the Springboks’ tactic on the slow, flat sub-continent pitches and include a third spin bowler in their side.

In this tournament the specialist spinners have had an inevitable impact. Think of Imran Tahir, Robin Petersen, Graeme Swann, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla and Sulieman Benn. Most have bowled aggressively, often on pitches that have helped them. They have bowled almost as if they have been engaged in a first-class match in pursuit of wickets.

If the Bangladesh captain, Shakib Al Hasan, wants any reminder of the pressure his side are under, he has only to look at the England team bus. The same vehicle was used by West Indies in Dhaka and was pelted with stones after Bangladesh’s last match. Infuriated supporters mistakenly thought the bus contained the home side and the remnants of cracked panes and dented panel work remain.

While England can qualify if they win, Bangladesh know that, realistically, if not arithmetically, they are out of contention for the quarter-finals if they lose here.

If England play properly it should not make much difference who partners Strauss as opening batsman. But this is England, who carry the mantle of being the entertainers in this tournament, the Quixotic team who can lose to Ireland one day and beat South Africa the next. Strauss does not much like Quixotic. “To be honest, I’d like some more predictability,” he said, speaking for cricket punters around the world.

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