Having hammered the world's best side in the Twenty20 game at the Rose Bowl on Monday England's task is to come down to earth fast enough to pummel the world's worst side at The Oval in the 50 over game on Thursday.

In the opening ODI of the 10-match triangular NatWest Series England warm up for what may be some epic encounters against world champions Australia with an anti-climactic game against Bangladesh.

Though some wags have suggested Bangladesh might provide better opposition than Australia did at the Rose Bowl, in reality it is an intriguing psychological exercise for England after Monday's adrenaline rush.

Marcus Trescothick, who plays his 100th one-day game at the Oval, suggested there was no danger of England getting ahead of themselves after the 100-run win.

"We've developed a habit of focusing on the task in hand against teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, and in dead Test rubbers. That better focus helps us to switch on when we face much tougher situations," he said.

The bigger challenge begins against Australia at Bristol on Sunday and will inevitably culminate in the two sides meeting in the final at Lord's on July 2. England only need to win that game to take the tournament, but they will play every game against Australia as a cup final. With every victory their old fragile self-belief will be replaced by more confidence.

"It's true that we've been in awe of Australia in the past. But we do believe now that we can compete with them," Trescothick said. "That's not because of the two one-day wins, at Birmingham last year, then the Rose Bowl. It's because of the confidence we have gained from the way we've been performing over the past 18 months."

Jostling for pole position before the Tests is one agenda, but another issue is England proving they can perform consistently in ODIs.

They may have swept Australia thrillingly aside in consecutive games, but such inspirational performances have been a rarity for this side. England have won only four of their past 10 ODIs and 10 of their last 20, whereas in Test matches they have lost only one game in their past five series.

But Australia's form corresponds more closely to their Test match record, with nine wins from their last 10 games and 16 out of their last 20.

Even Bangladesh have won five of their past 20 ODIs, suggesting they could provide an upset if England let their guard down. They have also added to the one-day squad two bowlers left out of the Test team, both of whom have outstanding records.

Left-arm spinner Manjural Islam Rana has an economy rate of 3.86 in his 16 ODIs, almost as good as Shaun Pollock's 3.77. And 17-year-old seamer Nazmul Hossain has shown remarkable maturity in his 10 ODIs, boasting a top-notch economy rate of 4.44.

England's most economical bowler is Andrew Flintoff and his return to full fitness after injury means England will effectively take the field with 12 men. When he played only as a batsman in the triangular series involving New Zealand and the West Indies last summer England missed their best defensive bowler and failed to reach the final.

And when he returned home after England's 2-1 Test series win in South Africa they lost the ODI series 4-1. That series was also notable for the poor form of Paul Collingwood, Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss, who failed to muster a fifty between them. All three will have gained confidence from their innings at the Rose Bowl, and they were not the only performances which suggested this will be a thrillingly competitive series.

Flintoff showed a wonderful lack of respect for the vaunted Australians, firing bouncers at the helmets of Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath to the great delight of a packed Rose Bowl.

There will undoubtedly be hostile retaliation from Lee in the games to come, something to savour as the fastest Australian bowler will not be a first choice in the Tests.

Geraint Jones's spirited little cameo showed he will not be cowed by the world champions, though he needs to build bigger contributions at the top of the order.

The fully-fit Darren Gough was relishing playing Australia again and bowled a bouncer at Andrew Symonds on hat-trick ball. If he wins his duel with the Aussie top order players, he may demand a go in the Tests.

Kevin Pietersen was as cocksure as he had been in making three tons against South Africa, and it will be fascinating to see how Australia will try to control his explosive power.

Only Michael Vaughan looked out of sorts. For all the talk of a "fun" game, the captain was biting his nails to the quick and played a tired shot to fall for a golden duck, chipping the ball to his opposite number Ricky Ponting.

Australian retaliation, whether in Lee bouncers aimed at Flintoff's head, McGrath yorkers fired at Pietersen's leg stump, or murderous assaults on Gough by Adam Gilchrist, is bound to come and the resulting fireworks should provide a wonderful spectacle.

England (from): MP Vaughan (capt), ME Trescothick, GO Jones, VS Solanki, AJ Strauss, KP Pietersen, A Flintoff, PD Collingwood, GJ Batty, Kabir Ali, D Gough, SJ Harmison, SP Jones, J Lewis.

Bangladesh (from): Habibul Bashar (capt), Javed Omar, Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed, Khaled Mashud, Khaled Mahmud, Mohammad Rafique, Nazmul Hossain, Nafees Iqbal, Mashrafe Mortaza, Manjural Islam Rana, Tushar Imran.

16 Jun, 2005