The England cricket team toured Bangladesh at the end of the 2009–10 cricket season, playing three One Day Internationals (ODI) and two Test matches. Regular England captain Andrew Strauss controversially missed the tour to rest for the 2010–11 Ashes series, so the team was led for the first time by Alastair Cook. Bangladesh were captained by all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
England whitewashed Bangladesh in both the Test and ODI series, maintaining their record as the only Test-playing nation not to have been beaten by the Bangladeshis. England gave debuts to five players during the series, including South African-born Craig Kieswetter, which drew criticism over the number of foreign-born players in the England team, particularly from former England captain Michael Vaughan.
Background In the 12 previous matches played between the two sides – four Test matches and eight ODIs – England had a 100% winning record against Bangladesh, the only international team able to boast such a record. The previous year, Bangladesh had claimed their first Test series victory against a senior Test nation, though it came against a West Indies side that was heavily weakened because of an industrial dispute. England came into the tour on the back of a two-and-a-half-month series against South Africa in which they had secured a 2–1 ODI series win, while the Test and Twenty20 International series had been tied.
Squads
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced in September 2009 that it "[had] to prioritise" and would most likely be sending a weakened squad to tour Bangladesh. The press theorised that possible candidates to be rested included captain Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood, Stuart Broad and James Anderson. When the squad was officially announced in January 2010, only Strauss and Anderson were omitted from the touring squad. The reason given for Anderson's break was to give him opportunity to undergo a specialist review and rehabilitation for a chronic injury to his right knee, to enable him to return to full fitness for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. The decision to rest Strauss was rationalised by national selector Geoff Miller as "the selectors feel it is important that he takes a break ahead of an extremely busy programme of international cricket". This decision was not universally accepted, with former England captains Ian Botham and Michael Atherton among those who spoke out against the move; Botham claimed: "As captain you need to be there with your team ... I think it’s a major mistake."
England called up three uncapped players, naming bowlers Ajmal Shahzad and James Tredwell in both squads, and opening batsman Michael Carberry in the Test squad. Following a string of impressive performances for the England Lions, South African-born wicket-keeper batsman Craig Kieswetter was added to the ODI squad. Kieswetter had only completed his qualification period for England on the day before his first Lions match, and had previously represented South Africa Under-19s. Former England captain Michael Vaughan was unhappy with the inclusion of Kieswetter in the squad, and said that in an ideal world he would like to see "11 complete Englishmen in the team," and complained that he had "a problem, that we have almost got a 'ship-in' system of looking at talent". Injuries to Ryan Sidebottom, Graham Onions and Broad prompted England to call up Steven Finn as cover for the Test series, and Tim Bresnan remained with the squad after originally only being part of the ODI squad.
In contrast to the selection issues and injury problems surrounding England, Bangladesh came into the tour with a relatively stable squad. Uncapped players Nasir Hossain and Suhrawadi Shuvo were both named in the ODI squad, and Mashrafe Mortaza was fit to play after making it through the warm-up game against England for the BCB XI, having not played since July 2009 due to a knee injury. After playing in the first ODI, Mortaza withdrew from the squad for the remaining ODIs and Test matches, citing a disagreement over his fitness. The Bangladesh chairman of selectors, Rafiqul Alam, announced that Mortaza had withdrawn himself "to be by the side of his ailing mother". Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh's most-capped player, was omitted from the Test squad as he had failed to convince the selectors that he was in the right frame of mind for international cricket. The day after the squad had been announced, Bangladesh's preparations for the opening Test match were "thrown into disarray" when Raqibul Hasan announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 22. It was reported that the retirement was due to Raqibul's displeasure at being omitted from the provisional squad for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. Uncapped Jahurul Islam was called into the squad to replace him.
Batsmen Alastair Cook (captain) Paul Collingwood (vice-captain) Ian Bell Michael Carberry Joe Denly Eoin Morgan Kevin Pietersen Jonathan Trott
All-rounders Tim Bresnan Luke WrightWicket-keepers Steven Davies Craig Kieswetter Matt Prior
Bowlers Stuart Broad Steven Finn Graham Onions Liam Plunkett Ajmal Shahzad Ryan Sidebottom Graeme Swann James TredwellBatsmen Aftab Ahmed Imrul Kayes Jahurul Islam Junaid Siddique Tamim Iqbal
All-rounders Shakib Al Hasan (captain) Mahmudullah Naeem IslamWicket-keepers Mushfiqur Rahim (vice-captain)
Bowlers Abdur Razzak Enamul Haque Jr Mashrafe Mortaza Rubel Hossain Shafiul Islam Shahadat Hossain Suhrawadi Shuvo
ODI series 1st ODI
After winning the toss, England opted to put Bangladesh into bat, but their new-ball bowlers failed to maintain a good line and length, providing opener Tamim Iqbal with plenty of bad deliveries to put away for boundaries. Their breakthrough came in the 10th over, when Bresnan bowled a slower ball to Imrul Kayes who found a leading edge and was caught by Luke Wright at mid-on. Two more wickets followed closely as Junaid Siddique hit a half-volley softly to the fielder at square leg in the next over, and then Aftab Ahmed was run out in the 13th over, leaving Bangladesh with 82 runs for the loss of three wickets (82/3). Captain Shakib Al Hasan and vice-captain Mushfiqur Rahim both provided Tamim with some support, but both were undone by their own rashness; Shakib advanced down the wicket to Graeme Swann and provided an edge for Matt Prior to catch behind the stumps, while Mushfiqur attempted a run which was never available and presented Kevin Pietersen with his second run out of the match. Tamim alone provided resistance, showing "imperious strokeplay all around the ground" and a measure of maturity in his innings. His 125 came off 120 balls, including 13 fours and 3 sixes, eventually being dismissed in the 43rd over, bowled by Broad, with Bangladesh on 214/9. The final two batsmen lasted three overs, adding 14 to score, leaving England requiring 229 to win.
In England's reply, captain Alastair Cook played in a fashion reminiscent of the man he had replaced for the tour, Strauss, as he played an accumulatory innings to score 64. Kieswetter, who had been brought into the team to provide firepower at the start of the innings was outscored by Cook 4 to 1, and was nearly dismissed twice in his first over, offering an edge to wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim, and two balls later he was caught in front, but umpire Rod Tucker ruled that he was not out. Kieswetter was dismissed in the 13th over for 19, completely missing a drive to present Mushfiqur with an easy stumping. An over later, Kevin Pietersen fell for just one run, leaving England on 74/2. Cook and new man Collingwood put on 22 runs before the opener was adjudged leg before wicket (LBW) though replays indicated that the ball was missing the stumps on the leg side. Collingwood then anchored the chase with Eoin Morgan, the pair adding 88 runs to the score. After the dismissal of Morgan on 33, it was left to Prior to join Collingwood to add the required runs, and England won with four overs to spare.
2nd ODI
Both sides made changes going into the second ODI; for England, Sidebottom made way as England opted to hand a debut to Tredwell in order to play two spinners, while Bangladesh called on Shuvo and Rubel Hossain, dropping Siddique and Mortaza. For the second consecutive match, England won the toss and chose to field. The match began in similar fashion to the first ODI, with two quick wickets in the 10th and 11th overs taking Bangladesh from 46/0 to 56/2. However, a third-wicket partnership of 90 between Kayes and Rahim steadied the innings and helped Bangladesh to gain confidence. After Imrul Kayes' dismissal, Rahim increased his scoring-rate with a series of boundaries to take the score past 200, and was dismissed by a slower ball from Bresnan with the score at 211/5. Some late swinging from the tail saw Bangladesh finish on 260/6, their highest total in ODIs against England.
England lost opener Kieswetter in the first over; caught at first slip off the third ball of the innings, having been dropped by the keeper the ball before. Pietersen and Collingwood were both trapped LBW by Abdur Razzak without passing 20, and Morgan joined Cook in the middle with the score at 68/3. Initially, Morgan supported his captain by rotating the strike, but when Cook was dismissed for a 61-ball 60, he played with more freedom. A partnership of 90 with wicket-keeper Prior brought England close to 200, but Wright, Bresnan and Swann all fell cheaply, leaving England requiring 31 runs off 26 balls with only two wickets remaining. With England "seemingly in disarray", Morgan took control of the match, and completed the run-chase with three boundaries in five balls. Morgan finished the game with 110 not out, his first century for England.
3rd ODI
The third ODI saw a change of venue; the teams moving from Dhaka to the coastal town of Chittagong. England again made two bowling changes, seamers Shahzad and Liam Plunkett coming into the team with the injured Broad and spinner Tredwell making way. Bangladesh remained unchanged from the second ODI. The hosts won their first toss of the series, and put England into bat. Kieswetter bucked his natural game and played cautiously: when partner Cook was dismissed for 32 in the 13th over, he had scored 20 off 33 balls. The opener continued to accumulate runs carefully until he reached his half-century in the 33rd over. After passing the milestone, he began to score quicker, cutting and driving as he shared a 74-run partnership with Collingwood. He reached his century with a scampered run off Rubel Hossain, his first in international cricket, in his third ODI appearance. At 22 years and 97 days old, he became the second youngest England batsman to score an ODI century after David Gower. In contrast to the "all-action" style that had been expected from him, Kieswetter accrued his century with resolve, saying after the match that: "In the first two games I wasn't quite aware tactically of how I was going to pace my innings, [in terms of] helping the team win the game. Today I tried to pace myself a bit more, and try to get myself in more before playing big shots." His dismissal soon after his century brought Wright to the crease with the freedom to make an aggressive cameo, notching 32 runs off just 13 balls to help England towards a total of 284.