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Moores ready for must-win game

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England Head Coach Peter Moores insists he and his team are ready for the pressure of tomorrow's crucial World Cup clash against Bangladesh at the Adelaide Oval.

To reach the quarter-finals England must beat the Tigers tomorrow and Afghanistan on Friday, when they also need New Zealand to defeat Bangladesh and complete a 100 per cent record in Pool A.

That situation has been brought about by defeats to Australia, the Black Caps and Sri Lankaand Moores said: “There’s pressure in the World Cup and there’s pressure on us as a team because we haven’t played as well as we would have like to have.

"We have got to win the game. International cricket is about handling pressure. We’ve had some challenges, we’ve got a mix of experienced and young players and the ability to handle pressure and play under pressure is part of the job.

"We’re very aware of it and we’re up for the challenge. We have a big game tomorrow and we have to get a win to stay in the tournament.”

Generating swing with the two new balls is crucial for Moores and he called for opening pair James Anderson and Chris Woakes to come out firing.

Chris Woakes, left, and James Anderson, right, talk with England Bowling Coach David Saker during a training session

“Swing has been important in this tournament," he said.

"We’ve got good swing bowlers in people like Anderson and Woakes and they’ve looked at their games to see if they can get the most out of that. Getting the ball to move laterally makes quite a big difference in one-day cricket.”

Conditions will dictate whether spinner James Tredwell is added to the attack, with Moores silent on whether any changes to the line-up could be expected.

"We are not going to announce the squad today," he said. "You’ll have to wait to the toss of the coin tomorrow.

“The pitch looks a good pitch. It’s a drop-in pitch and historically it is a good batting pitch. I expect it to be full of runs.

"We’ll put out what we think is the best team to take wickets and put them under pressure and win the game. We’re pretty clear on what our best XI is and we’ll announce that at the toss.”

Peter Moores and his England team face a must-win World Cup Pool A clash against Bangladesh at the Adelaide Oval tomorrow

England cannot take Bangladesh lightly, having lost to them in the 2011 tournament, but thoughts of revenge will be far from Moores' mind and those of his players.

“What happened in the last World Cup doesn’t really matter," he said.

"We have a different group of players. This group of players are very focused on how they are going to play tomorrow and how we’re going to pitch up and play the best game we can. That’s the most important thing for us.

"You have only one focus here and that’s winning a World Cup. It’s once every four years.

"Everybody is focused on England doing well; we have one goal and that’s to win tomorrow’s game to stay in the tournament. That takes up all my time.

“We’ve seen quite a lot of Bangladesh. The beauty of tournament play is you see all the sides all the time. That’s part of the excitement. They’ll know us and we’ll know them.”

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza was also keen to put thoughts of 2011 to one side.

"That was in Bangladesh; it was four years back. I think that is a long time ago," he said.

"We have to play good cricket tomorrow. It's a nice memory for us but it depends how we play tomorrow."

Mortaza's men have qualification hopes on the line themselves and he was asked if this could be the biggest match in their history.

"It's difficult to say because the Asia Cup final was also very important for us," he said. "There were a few matches but it is one of them, if we can win this match it will be a great memory for everyone involved with this team.

"It's a pressure match but our boys are looking very confident, especially after chasing 318 in the last match ."


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