The first point about this Test match is that a few of the England players need to get into some nick.

Playing against a group of relatively ordinary players on a good pitch at Lord's is a good chance to do that. Runs against Bangladesh will add to the players' confidence more than runs in county games because they will carry the extra cachet of being scored in Test matches.

A player could make a hundred against a weak county attack and not feel that it's as relevant toward his form for the hard part of the summer. If England get on top of the game against Bangladesh, it will be really good for morale.

Unfortunately for Bangladesh it's important that England go and crush them. I don't think Michael Vaughan will want any hiccoughs, or any tight games. His team need to remind everyone what a powerful, ruthless and uncompromising outfit they are. English cricket doesn't need anybody suggesting there's a bit of softness or generosity of spirit just before the Australians come.

That said, Bangladesh might resist quite well if the pitch is good at Lord's and the weather is okay. A lot of sides have been inspired by playing there, though the odd one has been completely shaken by the prospect and crumbled, such as Zimbabwe a couple of years ago.

There are quite good crowds promised. On Thursday they have pre-sold 14,500 tickets, on Friday 18,500 and, on Saturday, 16,500. That sums up the enormous interest in watching England play and that's an enormous credit to the team.

Duncan Fletcher and Michael Vaughan will have reckoned that beating South Africa in the winter was as tough a challenge as it was playing for the Ashes a couple of years ago. They thought South Africa were a really difficult side to beat and that's given them the confidence to know they can defeat sides when they are not playing at their best. The character that came out of that is another important strand to what will come later this summer.

There are a number of other important factors. It gets the side back together again. They returned in early March from South Africa and have had a long time apart. So that whole togetherness thing is happening and they will be pleased to be in each other's company.

The talismanic Andrew Flintoff's fitness is a massive boost and Ian Bell is in fantastic form. It's marvellous to have the luxury of saying no to Kevin Pietersen and not having to worry too much about Mark Butcher's wrist not being quite right, because there are other cricketers in the wings. Robert Key has made big scores this season and hasn't got the nod. That shows there is a bit of depth there.

It would be lovely if in county cricket the likes of Key, Pietersen and James Anderson really perform because that would be indicative of the strength in depth available.

Lastly, the selectors deserve great credit. Some might call them conservative, but I believe their well thought out and consistent selections have contributed enormously to the success we are watching. And there's no reason why it won't continue throughout this summer.

25 May, 2005