sport news Eoin Morgan fired up for must-win clash with Bangladesh as England aim to hit ...

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If England could choose the opponents they would most like to face in a World Cup game that has suddenly gained extra significance they would probably not be Bangladesh.

After all, it was the one-time minnows — now one of the most experienced teams at this tournament — who defeated England at the last two World Cups and sentenced them to a humiliating early exit in Adelaide four years ago.

And England are meeting them on the Cardiff ground where Bangladesh announced themselves on the international stage by defeating Australia in 2005 in what became a taste of things to come in the greatest of all Ashes summers.

Now they have a chance to inflict another defeat that would leave England on a knife-edge in the tournament they were expected to dominate after picking themselves up from the nadir of that defeat in 2015 to become the world’s best one-day side.

So no pressure then, Eoin Morgan? ‘It was never going to be plain sailing all the way and we have spoken about that,’ said an unruffled England captain of Monday’s defeat by Pakistan. ‘It’s important now to see a good strong reaction from our side. We’ve talked about sticking to what we do well and looking to our strengths. Everything goes back to focusing on ourselves, how we win games and get the best out of ourselves.’

The strengths Morgan speaks of helped England rise from the ashes of the last disastrous World Cup, when their fate was sealed on that tumultuous night in Adelaide against Bangladesh. It left Morgan fearing his reign as England’s white-ball captain was over before it had really begun.