England v. Bangladesh: The Wasted Series

This week sees the return of England's triumphant cricket squad to action in their home country. They come to the Home of Cricket, Lords, to begin a two Test Series, which also sees a fixture at Manchester's Old Trafford, against cricketing minnows Bangladesh. The result is already written, England will win the series 2-0, barring any significant spells of rain, and they will dominate all the way through. This is not because England are so good, it is because Bangladesh are simply not. So you can forgive me for not being too excited about this coming series.

England have only recently returned home from the Twenty20 World Cup, and their tour of Bangladesh was only nine weeks ago. In an era where almost everyone is agreed that there is too much international cricket, the value of such a fixture must be questioned. England will win the series, of that there can be no doubt, and the games will not even be competitive. England face both Bangladesh and Pakistan in all forms of cricket this summer, as well as One Day International series against old rivals Australia, before the Ashes in the winter. While this series may only be a warm up for what is to come, does it really have any value whatsoever?

The county championship is a good a place as any to warm-up before a summer of international cricket. England are facing Bangladesh, a team full of players who have struggled during warm-up matches against Essex and the England Lions, losing by 5 wickets to Bangladesh and 9 to the England Lions, essentially the English cricket team's reserve eleven. Yes, Essex defeated Bangladesh. What's more is that the Essex eleven that defeated Bangladesh contained at least seven players who would not make the county's first eleven for a championship match. If that Essex side can defeat Bangladesh, then English players might as well go and get some games in for their counties before they face Pakistan, rather than wasting their time with two Test matches that they won inside three days in 2005, the last time Bangladesh visited England.

Unfortunately, Bangladesh are visiting England, and the Test series will go ahead. The England squad omits two players who would normally be in the eleven, Stuart Broad and Paul Collingwood. However, the rest of the eleven will contain players who will play in the first Test against Pakistan, like Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Graham Swann. These players should be given some time at home to spend with their families, and to play a few county games, while the England Lions play the Test series in all but name. If I was a selector, I would be pushing to select the following side for the first Test, starting tomorrow:

Carberry (HAM)

Moore (LAN)

Key (KEN)*

Bopara (ESS)

Hildreth (SOM)

Davies (SUR)+

Rashid (YOR)

Bresnan (YOR)

Harris (GLA)

Finn (MID)

Kirby (GLO)

Play this group to allow some players on the verge of England selection to show what they can do in a Test match, when the eyes of English cricket are upon them, at the Home of Cricket, and allow Strauss, Cook, Pietersen, Anderson, Swann et cetera to rest, to play some cricket with their counties and to come back fresh for the much tougher and more meaningful series against Pakistan.

In fact, Bangladesh should not even have Test status. They are far too weak to be mixing it up with the big boys of Test match cricket. There needs to be a second tier, where teams like Bangladesh can play Test matches at that level and they can improve. These nations, Bangladesh, Ireland, Afghanistan, Kenya, Canada et cetera, need to be playing at their level, to be encouraged to develop young players and invest in the future, and then, when they have proven that they are ready, they can be 'promoted' to a full Test playing nation. Bangladesh clearly are not ready to be playing Test match cricket, and results show that. Sure, they might pick up a win against the West Indies now and again, but what does that really prove? How many nations don't beat the West Indies comfortably? Bangladesh have no right to play these wasted Test series. They don't help Bangladesh, they don't help their opponents and they don't help cricket.