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Team news
Bangladesh's plans were hit a severe blow when Raqibul Hasan stunned the team by announcing his retirement after practice on Wednesday. His place in the squad has gone to Jahurul Islam, who scored 117 and 59 in the final of their domestic competition last week, but Aftab Ahmed will take over at No. 4 in the final XI. Mahmudullah, who impressed with a series of fine performances at No. 8 in New Zealand last month, moves up to No. 5, with Shadahat Hossain replacing Shafiul Islam as Rubel Hossain's new-ball partner. With four spinners to rotate, however, neither man is likely to do much more than take the shine off the ball.
Bangladesh 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Junaid Siddique, 4 Aftab Ahmed, Mahmudullah, 6 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Naeem Islam, 9 Abdur Razzak, 10 Rubel Hossain, 11 Shadahat Hossain
Six batsman, four bowlers? Five batsmen, five bowlers? Two seamers, two spinners? Three quicks, two spinners? Or just one spinner? There are plenty of permutations for England to consider, but Cook hinted towards the first and a duel spin attack. That would mean debuts for Carberry and Tredwell, but it would be a huge gamble to have just two frontline seamers if one of those is Broad who recently suffered back spasms. His recent nets sessions have been encouraging, however, and England seem set to take the gamble.
England (probable) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Michael Carberry, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Tim Bresnan, 10 Graeme Swann, 11 James Tredwell