Bangladesh Drop Aftab For Final Test Against England

Dhaka: Bangladesh have dropped middle-order batsman Aftab Ahmed and replaced him with uncapped Jahirul Islam for the second test against England, the country's cricket board said on Friday.

Jahirul was originally drafted into the squad following the retirement of batsman Raqibul Hassan before the first test. He scored 965 first-class runs this season at an an average of 68.92.

Bangladesh pace bowler Shahadat Hossain makes way for Shafiul Islam for the test which starts on Saturday. England won the first test by 181 runs.

England's Stuart Broad says he is fresh for the second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka, which starts on Saturday.

The 23-year-old bowler passed a late fitness test on his back before helping England see off the hosts in an 181-run win in the first Test in Chittagong.

And the seamer has reported no ill-effects from his three-wicket display.

Steven Finn has come a long way in a short time. A couple of weeks ago he was back in London preparing for a pre-season boot camp with Middlesex and now he has leapfrogged Liam Plunkett and Ajmal Shahzad into the Test team. His first appearance confirmed his promise as he troubled the Bangladesh batsmen on a slow, flat pitch.

Ever since he made his debut at Lord's aged 16, Mushfiqur Rahim looked to have the skills to withstand Test cricket. His double effort at Chittagong - 79 followed by 95 - suggests he has come of age at the highest level as he twice left the England attack with little idea of how to remove him.

Team news

Bangladesh have confirmed two changes, with pace bowler Shafiul Islam replacing the disappointing Shahadat Hossain, while Jahurul Islam will make his debut in the middle order in place of Aftab Ahmed. The onus will be on Bangladesh's spinners to have more of an impact than they managed in the first Test.

Squad (from): Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Abdur Razzak, Imrul Kayes, Jahurul Islam, Junaid Siddique, Mahmudullah, Naeem Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Tamim Iqbal

England are likely to stick with an unchanged team, which means no spin support for Graeme Swann after his 10-wicket haul in Chittagong.

Squad (from): AN Cook (capt), IR Bell, TT Bresnan, SCJ Broad, MA Carberry, PD Collingwood, SM Davies†, ST Finn, KP Pietersen, LE Plunkett, MJ Prior (wk), A Shahzad, GP Swann, JC Tredwell, IJL Trott, LJ Wright

Pitch and conditions
Jamie Siddons, the Bangladesh coach, said he expected a little more life in this surface but it is likely to remain heavily in favour of the batsmen. A touch more bounce would please everyone - except, perhaps, the home side's batsmen - and the spinners will be hoping for more help from the footmarks. Temperature wise it will be hot again, with the mercury hitting the high 30s on most days.

Stats and trivia

• Bangladesh's second innings at Chittagong was their fourth-longest at 124 overs.
• Junaid Siddique became the fourth Bangladesh batsman to score their maiden Test hundred this year following on from Mushfiqur Rahim against India and Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan against New Zealand.
• Siddique's 106 was also Bangladesh's fifth-longest Test innings in terms of balls faced.

Match facts
March 20-24, 2010
Start time 09:30 local (03:30 GMT)