With heads held high
Two Test wins, 14 in ODIs, an inspiring captain, and a promising newcomer made Bangladesh's 2009 their most successful 12 months ever

Shakib Al Hasan led Bangladesh to their first overseas series win • Associated Press
There is no doubt that the team's tour to the West Indies in July was the highlight of Bangladesh's year. Bangladesh had tasted Test success just once previously, against Zimbabwe in 2005. Since then, they have come close but ultimately failed to cross the finish line. In 2009 they not only swept the Test series but also the ODIs.
Bangladesh continue to be overly reliant on their army of spinners and will be acutely aware that matches are rarely won through left-arm spin alone. The lack of seam-bowling support will need to be addressed
It was not all success and accolades for Bangladesh this year. In Twenty20s, which would appear in theory to be tailormade for the trigger-happy Bangladesh batsmen, the team have had a year to forget, losing every match they played. The most embarrassing of these was against Ireland at Trent Bridge, where the Bangladesh batting reverted to type and the O'Brien brothers enhanced their reputations.
Just one cricketer made debuts in all three formats for Bangladesh in 2009, and what a debut it was. Rubel Hossain is young, energetic and capable of regularly hitting 85mph. He returned figures of 4 for 33 from just 5.3 overs in his maiden ODI, against Sri Lanka in January. The 19-year-old from Bagerhat is Bangladesh's answer to Mohammad Aamer, and while he has much to learn, he is certainly an exciting prospect.
Bangladesh have a surprisingly busy schedule in 2010, when they will face some of the bigger beasts in world cricket. Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand and England will all provide much sterner tests.
Abu Choudhury is a regular contributor to Banglacricket.com. He lives in London