NEW DELHI, Oct 27: England beat Bangladesh by seven wickets last week but they will go into their second and final test on Wednesday knowing the result could easily have been different.

The first test at Dhaka would have come as a bit of a shock for Michael Vaughan’s men even though they inflicted loss number 24, in 25 tests, on Bangladesh.

The hosts, who had looked so listless in the shorter version of the game at the World Cup earlier this year, have started to pick up fast under new coach Dav Whatmore.

After returning from Australia with accolades from rival captain Steve Waugh, Bangladesh almost pushed Pakistan to test defeat, but for Inzamam-ul-Haq’s last-wicket heroics at Multan.

The test minnows had another chance to upset the applecart last week when they had four wickets in hand with a lead of 153 at the end of the fourth day against England.

But pacemen Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison brought the honeymoon to an end, mopping the tail up for just 10 runs on the fifth morning to set their batsmen a gettable 164 despite the spinning track at the Bangabandhu Stadium.

Captain Vaughan, who saw England through with an unbeaten 81, said things had become a little too close for comfort.

The M.A. Aziz stadium in Chittagong is likely to throw up a track similar to Dhaka, where spinners Mohhamad Rafique and debutant Enamul Haque Junior had proved to be a handful.

The 33-year-old Rafique, who grabbed six South African wickets for 67 earlier this year, was particularly lethal with a deceptive arm ball that shot straight through and repeatedly foxed the English batsmen.

But opener Marcus Trescothick, who looked sublime during his first innings 113 and slightly ridiculous while getting stumped to Rafique in the second, will look to build on his success along with Vaughan, regarded as one of the world’s best batsmen.

Left-hander Graham Thorpe looked in good nick but England will expect more from Mark Butcher and former captain Nasser Hussain, who struggled in both innings.

The real strength for the visitors proved to be the underrated bowling pair of Harmison and Hoggard, who took 17 wickets between them.

The resilient Bangladeshis, on the other hand, bat deep with captain Khaled Mahmud coming in at number eight. The signs are that Bangladesh know how to get the opposition in trouble, they just have to learn to finish.

Squads:

England - Michael Vaughan (captain), Gareth Batty, Mark Butcher, Rikki Clarke, Paul Collingwood, Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison, Nasser Hussain, Matthew Hoggard, Geraint Jones, Chris Read, Marcus Trescothick. Graham Thorpe, Richard Johnson, Martin Saggers.

Bangladesh - Khaled Mahmud (captain), Javed Omar, Rajin Saleh, Aftab Ahmed, Hannan Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahman, Habibul Bashar, Alok Kapali, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Khaled Mashud, Mashrafe Mortaza, Enamul Haque Jnr.—Reuters