When touring England team arrived at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium there was no electricity in and around the venue forcing them to enter a dark dressing room at the home of cricket. 

It hardly mattered to the tourist as they were seen enjoying every bit since putting their foot at the SBNS as England ODI’s squad members began their preparation for the upcoming three-match series against Bangladesh with a light hearted practice session at SBNS on Saturday.

There were playing music while they were doing their net session and their play list included songs like Hotel California of Eagles to Californication from Red Hot Chilli Peppers to  With or Without You from U2 and they seemed to be doing their practice while enjoying the rhythm of music. 

The leg spin of Jofra Archer seemed to one of the highlight of their practice session while they seemed to be more inclined of honing their skills against spin bowlers, a probable reason for picking only spinners as their net bowlers.

There was bounce in the wicket and the batsmen were playing their shots but for some of them it never looked to foreign considering their attachment to Bangladesh domestic cricket.

David Malan, who played two games in the just concluded BPL for champions Comilla Victorians, was guiding his team mates considering he knows all the lanes and by lanes of the Dhaka venue as he is coming here since 2016. 

Malan is a seasoned campaigner in Bangladesh's domestic circuit, having played for several franchises in the BPL - Barishal Bulls, Comilla Warriors and Khulna Titans. He is playing for Comilla Victorians in this edition of the tournament.

In fact, by the time he started to play in the BPL, he had already represented Prime Dholeshwar in the Dhaka Premier League in the 2013-14 season, country's traditional list A tournament played by the leading clubs of Dhaka. Apart from him Moeen Ali and Mark Wood also played in BPL and were seen telling their team mates how things operate in this part of the continent. 

England, who are touring Bangladesh for the first time since 2016, will began their campaign with a three-match ODI’s slated from March 1 at the SBNS while the second ODI’s will be played the same venue on March 1.  The third and last ODI’s of the series of the ICC World Cup Super League will be played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on March 6. Following the ODI’s, England will play three-match T20’s against the host that will be played in Chattogram and Dhaka. The first games will be played ZACS on March 9 while the next two games are scheduled in Mirpur on March 12 and 14 respectively.

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