Short boundaries at Edgbaston give Bangladesh-Pakistan warm-up game a feel of school cricket

Pakistan warmed them up well before the ICC Champions Trophy when they defeated Bangladesh in their first warm-up clash played at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Chasing a stiff target of 342, Pakistan completed the win with 2 wickets in hand and 3 balls to spare. It was an unbeaten 9th wicket stand of 93 which came off just 43 balls which helped Pakistan overhaul the target.

Uncapped all-rounder Fahim Ashraf played a belligerent knock of 64* off 30 balls to help his team get over the line.  He made full use of the small boundaries available at the Edgbaston, which is normally a decent sized ground. The warm-up clash was scheduled to be played at the last pitch of the Midlands venue’s far region. The straight boundary was just 55 yards and one of the square boundaries, just a mere 42 yards which really is too small for even a school game. Both teams were hesitant to play a game for obvious reasons but went ahead with the game which turned out to be a high-scoring one.

Tough for the bowlers

The bowlers had to avoid bowling a typical length so that the batsmen don’t make use of the short square boundary which would have resurrected those backyard games played by every player as a kid. Or those school games where, due to lack of space, you play at a tiny sized ground.

Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha was also not too pleased with the ground. Speaking to Dhaka Tribune, one of the members of the ground staff said that he was surprised that a game was played on this pitch because it was usually a practice wicket.

It wasn’t the ideal preparation for the bowlers ahead of the eight-nation tournament. But the good part is that the batsmen got a good hit in the middle and will be feeling very confident and must have gotten acclimatised to the English conditions.

Bangladesh will now face India on Tuesday for another warm-up game before they take on England at Kennington Oval in London on Thursday in the tournament’s curtain-raiser.