DHAKA: Spinner Zafar Ansari will make his England debut in the second Test against Bangladesh on Friday while veteran paceman Stuart Broad will have to wait to win his 100th cap, according to skipper Alastair Cook.
After winning the first Test by just 22 runs, England know they can’t afford to take Bangladesh lightly but also need to keep players such as Broad fresh for a five-Test tour of India immediately afterwards.
The 30-year-old was in line to have made his 100th Test appearance in Dhaka but will now have to wait until he gets to India to achieve the landmark, with Steven Finn called up in his place.
With Jimmy Anderson currently sidelined, Broad is England’s senior bowler but he had little joy from what was a spin-friendly pitch in the first Test in Chittagong and took just two wickets.
“I’m sure he’d have liked to have got that milestone but this is a case of looking a bit further to the future and he understands the amount of cricket he could play over the next six weeks,” Cook said of Broad.
