England head to BD to face vastly improved side

England, when they finally reach Bangladesh on the last day of this month after all the discussions and hesitations over security, will find that their hosts’ cricket has vastly improved since England’s last Test tour in 2010.

It used to be taken for granted that, whatever the format, Bangladesh would lose. No country has ever made a worst start in Test cricket than Bangladesh, who lost 26 of their first 27 Tests, mostly by enormous margins. The exception was a rain-affected draw at home against Zimbabwe, reports The Telegraph.

Some steel and pride have now replaced the defeatism born of going for years without a sniff of victory. In Tests Bangladesh are still no nearer to winning because they do not have the capacity to take 20 wickets on the very flat pitches that have hitherto prevailed at home, but with the aid of rain they have salvaged four draws in their last five Tests.

Whereas cameo 30s used to be the norm, earlier this year Bangladesh’s dashing opener Tamim Iqbal scored 206 – his country’s highest individual innings to date – against Pakistan. The idea of building partnerships might also be catching on: Tamim put on 312 with his opening partner Imrul Kayes, again his country’s highest.

For Test bowling Bangladesh depend largely on two left-arm spinners, the world-class allrounder Shakib ul-Hasan and Taijul Islam. There could be no better preparation for the five-Test series in India for England’s batsmen than long hours of facing this pair with vociferous fielders around the bat.

In one-day internationals, however, Bangladesh have not simply ceased to lose but have begun to win. The inspirational figure has been their ODI captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza, who has had so many knee operations that he can barely run to the wicket but who more than compensates by instilling self-belief into his team.

England, without Eoin Morgan, will do well to win the three-match one-day series. Last year Bangladesh defeated not only Zimbabwe but South Africa, India and Pakistan – all at home - in addition to knocking England out of the World Cup by being far more passionate and aggressive in Adelaide.

In the process they unearthed a unique bowler, a springy left-arm medium-pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who unleashed such a bewildering array of cutters and slower variations that he was nicknamed Fizzer. Unfortunately, like so many Bangladeshi pace bowlers, he has broken down, while playing for Sussex, and is recovering from a shoulder operation.