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Kevin Pietersen believes he is back to his best form after battling to overcome his technical deficiencies against left-arm spin, but he has nevertheless voiced his criticism of the Chittagong wicket that aided his recovery in the first Test against Bangladesh. Pietersen made 99 in England’s first innings of the series and followed that up with a hard-hitting 32 from 24 balls, but feels that the surface on which the match was played was bad for spectators, and by extension, the five-day game as a whole.

Alastair Cook is preparing to stick with the same balance of seven batsmen and four bowlers that carried his side to a comfortable, if somewhat laboured, 181-run victory in the first Test at Chittagong, as he aims to hand the England captaincy back to Andrew Strauss with a 100% record from his first tour in charge.

With two days to go until the second Test at Dhaka, England are still weighing up their options and have not ruled out the introduction of a second spinner in James Tredwell to partner their ten-wicket Man of the Match from Chittagong, Graeme Swann. But in the absence of a genuine allrounder, the likelihood of calling upon a five-man attack seems slim, especially now that England have a 1-0 lead in the series, and therefore no need to gamble with their selection.

Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf who was last week banned by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) from playing for the country, has been permitted to play in a private league in Bangladesh. This comes on a day when the board reiterated that players need its permission for taking part in foreign competitions.

“PCB firmly conveys to all concerned that no player is allowed to play cricket outside Pakistan without having prior approval from the board in this regard,” the PCB statement said. “Any player interested to play cricket in any part of the world should apply to the board to seek permission for the same.”

Graeme Swann bagged his first 10-wicket match haul as England finally broke through Bangladesh’s resistance to secure a 181-run victory at Chittagong, but not before Junaid Siddique and Mushfiqur Rahim had made them toil through another wicketless session. Siddique scored his first Test century as the sixth-wicket pair survived the morning, taking their stand to 167, before Swann ended the resistance.

The victory margin was convincing from England – and Alastair Cook will be satisfied with his first Test in charge – but Bangladesh’s fight during the second half of the game made them dig deeper than they would have imagined. The efforts of Siddique and Rahim should give the home side great heart and England were getting increasingly flustered before Siddique’s marathon 292-ball effort was ended in the second over after lunch.

Bangladesh are not going down without a fight as backs-to-the-wall resistance from Junaid Siddique and Mushfiqur Rahim ensured England will have to come back for a fifth day. When the home side were reduced to 110 for 5 shortly before tea the hard work had seemingly been done, but the sixth-wicket pair remained undefeated throughout the final session.

There has been a sense of inevitability about this whole match, but Bangladesh’s periods of resistance have made England dig deep in hot conditions. Siddique showed great determination after being worked over in the first innings and, barring the occasion lapse in judgement, was impressively solid during a four-and-a-half hour stay. He proved that Bangladesh batsmen are capable of occupying the crease without regularly finding the boundary and each time his concentration appeared to be wavering he refocused.

Match facts
Friday March 12, 2010
Start time 9.30am (03.30GMT)
Big Picture

It’s been so far, so good for England in Bangladesh, albeit with the occasional fright along the way in the one-day series and a troublesome list of injuries to their quick bowlers. Even though their strike power has been reduced they should still have too much class for the home side over this short series, but it’s unlikely that success will come in the form of three-day thrashings.

After an ODI series that was perhaps closer than the 3-0 scoreline suggests, the general consensus is that Bangladesh cricket is slowly reaching the standard required to compete on equal terms with the bigger nations in world cricket. But “slowly”, unfortunately, is the operative word, and in Chittagong on Sunday, one of the slowest developers of them all returns to centre stage.

Mohammad Ashraful epitomises all the promise and frustration of Bangladesh cricket. When he’s in form, he bats with a fluency that few in the world can match – never more thrillingly than during his century on debut against Sri Lanka in September 2001, when he was a carefree whippersnapper of 16, which encapsulated the richness of talent that the country seemed set to produce.

Craig Kieswetter’s maiden hundred set up a comfortable 45-run victory in the third ODI at Chittagong as England sealed a 3-0 series whitewash over Bangladesh. Kieswetter’s 107 formed the backbone of England’s 284 for 5 after they were sent in to bat and the top order struggled for fluency on a sluggish pitch. His innings laid the foundation for Eoin Morgan and Luke Wright to play aggressive cameos, which boosted England’s total beyond the reach of Bangladesh’s abilities and the home side limped to 239 for 9.

Bangladesh’s captain, Shakib Al Hasan, believes his team is gelling well in the build-up to the 2011 World Cup in exactly 12 months’ time, and regards the final ODI against England in Chittagong as an opportunity to lay down a significant marker at a venue where the two teams are set to meet again in the group stages of the tournament.

Ryan Sidebottom is set to fly home from the England tour of Bangladesh, after failing to recover from a thigh injury, and he could yet be joined on the plane by Stuart Broad and Graham Onions, both of whom are being sent for MRI scans on their lower back, as the England camp was hit by a wave of injuries ahead of the third ODI in Chittagong.