Bangladesh shortcomings are exposed by ruthless England

THE best that can be said about England's performance so far is that it has been ruthlessly efficient. Indeed if a captain could write a perfect script then Alastair Cook in his first match as England captain would have penned batting first, scoring a personal century, declaring somewhere in the region of 600 and then dismissing half the opposition before close of play on the second day.

That is exactly what has happened in the first Test against Bangladesh in Bangalore. Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann shared five wickets between them to seize the initiative for England on the second day. At the close Bangladesh, replying to England's 599 for six declared, were struggling at 154 for five with only opener Tamin Iqbal standing firm.

They are face an uphill task to avoid the follow-on, but as good as England have been, there must be a caveat and that is the poor quality of Bangladesh. Any Test match they are involved in is a case of men against boys. This was perfectly demonstrated by their first two dismissals. Stuart Broad delivered the expected short pitched salvoes and Imral Kayes and Junaid Siddique fended them off as if they were swatting madly at a swarm of bees.

Top-order batsmen should not be so easily roughed up or dismissed. It is not their fault. The fact is they should not be playing Test cricket. Bangladesh received elevation as a bargaining chip for India that desired another vote on the International Cricket Council. There is no organised first-class structure in the country and it shows in the players. The bowlers lack pace, guile and discipline while the batsmen lack the virtues of crease occupation and the basic fundamentals of a solid defensive technique.

Excepted from those charges must be Tamim Iqbal, who batted neatly for his composed 81. The likelihood is today they will be forced to follow on and the match will be complete or nearly so by close of play.

For England's Stephen Finn, below, it should be an instructive experience. Plucked form the Academy as cover for injuries, he made his debut and suffered an understandable bout of nerves. Andy Flower, the head coach, is a shrewd person and will not consider his first spell of three wild overs as important.

What will interest him is what Finn does from here. His next spells and his opening burst in the second innings need to be accurate, hostile and worthy of an England cap. He has the ingredients to be a menacing bowler for England. He is 6ft 7in, quick enough and generates some steep bounce.

Swann will enjoy most of the work though. He is developing even more curve though the air on his stock off-break and when it turns it does so sharply. His three wickets belied the clich that sub-continent players are masters against spin as both Aftab Ahmed and Mahmudullah fell to ill-judged sweep shots, but Shakib Al Hasan was beaten beautifully in the flight as he advanced down the pitch.

His plan to get to the pitch of the ball to negate the spin, but as a left-hander he should have been coming down towards the off-side to counter any spin and offer his pads or body as another line of defence. Instead, he gave himself room which meant if he missed the ball he was at the very least sure to be stumped. Just another example of the naivety of so much of Bangladesh's cricket.

They could do with studying the video of England's innings. Cook was in full grinding mode as he made a Test best of 173 and Paul Collingwood scored his first century in 12 months. This pair have suffered too many slumps in form, but what they did was professional. They are paid to score runs and made sure they did with little risk or flair but plenty of application. "This is a special century for me," Collingwood said of the tenth Test century of his career.

Ian Bell also benefited with a typically stylish innings and the England dressing room will be relieved that Kevin Pietersen has managed to make a substantial score.

The runs are important to a man who has worked assiduously to regain form, but what should please is the return of his old swagger. Pietersen is a man of few doubts. It can make him awkward to love or even to like, but it also makes him dynamic as a player. He does not shirk the hard work necessary to solve issues of technique or from and his 99 was just reward. If only some of the Bangladesh players had similar talent.