Tigers try to avoid whitewash

The only previous occasion on which Bangladesh were getting ready to play an ODI at the Buffalo Park in East London, in November 2008, the match was abandoned due to rain. The Tigers may be secretly hoping for a similar outcome today in the third ODI against South Africa in order to walk away with a 0-2 loss instead of a 0-3 one which seems inevitable given the performances of either side so far on tour. However, there seems to be no possibility of rain in East London, and the match will get underway from 2:00 pm (Bangladesh time) today.

To further dampen any hopes of a late-tour revival, their best batsman Tamim Iqbal will be close to touching down in Bangladesh when the match starts 9,000 kilometres away, and the Tigers will also be without their best pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who will fly home tomorrow with ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.

South Africa are on a mission to blank Bangladesh but, with the series won, will also be looking to blood some new players and that might be the only chance for the Tigers to stage an upset. There is one certain change as Hashim Amla will be rested and promising Test debutant Aiden Markram may be given an ODI debut. Misfiring pace rookie Dane Paterson may also be given a break.

For Bangladesh, there will not be a wealth of options. Pacer Shafiul Islam has been brought back to South Africa but the main question will be whether batsman Soumya Sarkar or off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz replaces Tamim. JP Duminy said yesterday that the pitch here is usually lower and slower than most in South Africa, and that will favour Mehedi. Mashrafe however seemed to think that it will be a batting wicket like all the others. Even so, given the shellacking they received in the last match after going in with one bowler short, the smart money would be on Mehedi. That of course assumes that Bangladesh will make the smart choice.

Bangladesh had previously only played a Test here, on their first tour of the country in October 2002, and while they lost by an innings and 107 runs they also achieved their highest score of 252, which stood till they scored 320 in Potchefstroom in the first match of this tour. But like many other stats for Bangladesh on this tour, that may be a silver lining to thin to count.