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Ashraful dropped for England Tests

Jonathan Trott eased to a trouble-free century as England finetuned their preparations for next week's first Test on a sleepy second day in Chittagong

Mohammad Ashraful has missed only seven Tests since his Test debut in 2001  •  ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Mohammad Ashraful has missed only seven Tests since his Test debut in 2001  •  ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Bangladesh's most-capped cricketer, Mohammad Ashraful, has been omitted from the Test squad for the forthcoming series against England, after failing to convince the selectors that he is in the right frame of mind to resume his international career.
Ashraful, 25, missed last week's ODI series in a bid to recapture his form following a poor tour of New Zealand, but in consecutive first-class matches for Dhaka Division, he made 21 runs in four innings, including three ducks.
His final chance to impress the selectors came during his captaincy stint for Bangladesh A against England at Chittagong, but having managed just 1 in the first innings, he was bowled by Amjal Shahzad for 30 on the third and final morning of the match.
Ashraful has played in 53 of Bangladesh's 64 Tests to date, having made his mark with a debut century against Sri Lanka in November 2001, when he was just 16 years old. However, he has never yet featured in a home Test against England, having been dropped for the 2003 series, again due to a loss of form.
The Bangladesh selectors have named a 14-man squad which includes the centurion from the warm-up match, Raqibul Hasan, as well as no fewer than three left-arm spinners - the captain Shakib Al Hasan, Abdur Razzak and Enamul Haque Jr - in response to Kevin Pietersen's much-publicised problems against that style of bowling.
Ironically, Pietersen fell to Ashraful's spin for 20 on the final afternoon of the tour match.
Bangladesh squad Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Mahmudullah, Raqibul Hasan, Naeem Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam, Abdur Razzak, Enamul Haque Jr, Shahadat Hossain.

Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo. Go to http://twitter.com/miller_cricket to follow him on Twitter through the England tour of Bangladesh.