Though England and Bangladesh will be playing on the same hallowed turf in the 1st Test at Lord's they will be approaching the game from entirely different perspectives with different yardsticks for success.

England will want to overwhelm Bangladesh because, with the Ashes to come, they need to find their individual form and reassert their collective excellence against a weak team. They will miss the injured Ashley Giles whose place goes to Worcestershire off-spinner Gareth Batty, but will be confident of not being ambushed on home turf by a team they sized up two years ago in Bangladesh,.

For the visitors, languishing at the bottom of the world rankings, and having struggled in practice games to adapt to English conditions, it will be enough to win respect by being competitive. If they can produce a number of creditable individual performances and not collapse under the pressure of a first game at Lord's, they will be more than happy.

Both teams will field precocious youngsters, Ian Bell winning a second cap for England and the 16-year-old Mushfiqur Rahim making his debut for Bangladesh, but there the comparison ends as the two batsmen enter the Test arena from different worlds.

23 year old Bell is only a youngster by English standards, having been groomed for years on the county circuit, on numerous 'A' tours and off-season trips to Australian coaches for fine-tuning. In scoring 516 runs for Warwickshire at 64 this season he has looked every inch an international prospect.

The teenage Rahim is precocious even by Asian standards, and will become the fifth youngest debutant in Test history and the youngest at Lord's. In contrast to Bell, who has been on the verge for years, Rahim was a last-minute wildcard selection. He had not been included in the preliminary squad, but emerged in the u19 World Cup as an exciting wicketkeeper-batsman.

His selection was an amazing hunch as, despite having played only three first-class games before the call came, he has looked the most accomplished Bangladesh batsman on tour. He stroked 10 fours and a six in his defiant 63 against Sussex, as Bangladesh were crushed by an innings and 226 runs. Then, picked exclusively as a number six batsman, the 5ft wunderkind made 115 not out against Northants, an innings remarkable for its composure, wristy stylishness and dominance. A cocksure talent, he is unlikely to be phased by playing at Lord's.

When asked if he was playing, Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore answered with laconic wit and a delighted grin said: "He's got a good chance hasn't he?"

It was Whatmore, in fact, who answered most of the questions for Bangladesh, at the pre-match press conference at Lord's, a fatherly presence beside his shy captain, Habibul Bashar.

Cagily, Whatmore, ever the protective coach, downplayed Bangladeshi expectations, frequently drifting into language more commonly associated with management consultants: "The real objective is to review the work individuals are asked to do. We will see who goes out there and does the business. If enough come through with a pass mark, that will drag us from where we are ranked now."

It was not exactly stirring stuff on the verge of a historic first game at Lord's but Whatmore must always guard against putting too much pressure on his team for fear of deflating his charges.

Again exemplifying the difference between the sides, Michael Vaughan was all media savvy in comparison to "bashful" Bashar. The England captain promised his side would "play with the same intensity as in any Test", and dismissed suggestions that they might be complacent against a side he saw as a "potential banana skin".

"We've answered a lot of questions about mindset over the past year. Three-nil up against West Indies, we were asked if we could get up for the fourth game. We did do. Against New Zealand the same questions were asked when we were 2-0 up and we won the 3rd Test. We've proven that we play every Test with the same mindset," he said.

Vaughan will move up to three to accommodate the less experienced Bell at four, keeping New South Wales-bound Graham Thorpe in his favourite number five slot, and allowing for the possibility of Hampshire's Kevin Pietersen slotting into the lower-middle order later in the summer.

Andrew Flintoff is making a swift recovery from ankle surgery and has twice bowled a full allocation of overs in one-day games for Lancashire. Vaughan will give him a significant number of overs, in short spells, to help him find his confidence, something the whole team will be hoping to do against Bangladesh.

England:: MP Vaughan (capt), ME Trescothick, AJ Strauss, IR Bell, GP Thorpe, A Flintoff, GO Jones, GJ Batty, SP Jones, MJ Hoggard, SJ Harmison.

Bangladesh (from): Habibul Bashar (capt), Javed Omar, Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Aftab Ahmed, Mushfiqur Rahim, Khaled Mashud, Mohammad Rafique, Shahadat Hossain, Nafees Iqbal, Anwar Monir, Mashrafe Mortaza.

25 May, 2005