United News of Bangladesh

England has won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan as both teams aim to bow out of the Cricket World Cup with a win on Saturday. England had a forgettable title defense with only two wins from eight games after starting with a thumping nine-wicket loss to New Zealand in a rematch of the 2019 final. England’s run in India also included a streak of five consecutive losses. Pakistan also struggled in the tournament, losing four games in a row, including an eight-wicket defeat against Afghanistan and a narrow one-wicket loss to South Africa at Chennai. Pakistan has eight points from four wins and is effectively out of the semifinal race after England chose to bat first as Babar Azam’s Pakistan has no chance to overtake fourth-place New Zealand on net run-rate. England captain Jos Buttler wanted to bat first on a dry wicket at Eden Gardens and hoped to put up a strong total against struggling Pakistan bowlers. “Nice to break a losing streak, want to leave India with our heads held high,” Buttler said. It will be the last ODI international for David Willey, who has already announced his retirement after the World Cup. “An emotional day for David Willey, so we talked about trying to enjoy it and take it all in,” Buttler said as England went with an unchanged side that defeated Bangladesh in the last game to end its five-match losing streak. Pakistan recalled fit-again legspinner Shadab Khan, who has recovered from a concussion, and replaced fast bowler Hasan Ali. At Pune, Bangladesh batters finally clicked for one last time as it progressed to 283-5 in 46 overs after semifinal-bound Australia won the toss and chose to field. Towhid Hridoy was unbeaten on 74 off 78 balls with stand-in captain Najmul Hossain Shanto also making a useful 45. The opening pair of Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan provided Bangladesh with a solid start of 76 as both batters scored 36 runs each. Australia’s star spinner Adam Zampa bowled another economical spell of 2-32, claiming the wickets of Hasan and Mushfqur Rahim. Australia made two changes. Glenn Maxwell, double-century hero of its win over Afghanistan in Mumbai, was rested, as was pace bowler Mitchell Starc. Fit-again Steve Smith and pacer Sean Abbott were included in the playing 11. Shanto is leading Bangladesh, with left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed included. It has made two other changes — pacer Mustafizur Rahman and batting all-rounder Mahedi Hasan also come in for bowlers Tanzim Hasan Shakib and Shoriful Islam. India will try to remain the only perfect team in the tournament by winning its ninth straight match when it plays the Netherlands at Bengaluru on Sunday. It will be the 45th and final match of the preliminary stage which began Oct. 5 and featured all 10 teams playing the others once. Second-place South Africa finished with 14 points from seven wins in nine games. Australia can overtake the Proteas for second spot if they beat Bangladesh on Saturday by a big margin, but regardless they will still play each other in the semifinals at Kolkota next Thursday. India is set to face fourth-place New Zealand in the first semifinal in Mumbai on Wednesday. The final is set for next Sunday, Nov. 19, at Ahmedabad’s 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium, the largest cricket venue in the world. On Saturday, the ICC said that with six matches to go, more than a million fans had attended the tournament. It said the millionth fan came through the turnstiles during the match between Afghanistan and South Africa at Ahmedabad on Friday, a match the Proteas won by five wickets.   ___   Lineups:   England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid   Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf