Pace surprise awaits England

In the practice match in Fatullah on Tuesday, England will be facing two young pace bowlers in the BCB XI who are such unknown quantities that even the BCB didn't know one of their names correctly when announcing the 13-man squad on Saturday.

The BCB named one "Md Manik" which turned out to be Ali Ahmmed (whose nickname is Manik). The 20-year-old, 6ft 2in pacer is from Gopalganj, and is a regular at the Shere Bangla National Stadium nets. He caught the eye of Bangladesh's new bowling coach Courtney Walsh, who suggested him to the national selectors.

"This is a very big deal for me," Ahmmed said. "I have been excited since I heard about it couple of days ago. I have spent four days under Courtney Walsh. He has worked with me about a few things, and I am focusing on those. My main strength is outswing. He told me to use my height. He worked on a mistake I have in my run-up. I have improved quickly so maybe he saw something in me."

Ahmmed made his first-class debut for Dhaka Division in October last year, and has only played two List-A matches for Cricket Coaching School in the Dhaka Premier League.

The other rookie, Ebadot Hossain, made his first-class debut this season and has never played in the DPL. He is a volleyball player employed by the Bangladesh Air Force but he was picked in this year's High Performance squad after impressing scouts in the pace bowlers hunt earlier in 2016.

He impressed Aaqib Javed, who came for a week as a fast bowling consultant, during the HP camp in August. After making his first-class debut, he was also picked up by Rajshahi Kings in the BPL draft.

He hopes to use this practice match as a platform for better things, though he is having a hard time getting past the excitement of sharing a gym with the Bangladesh players.

"I have been trying to get better since the Robi Pacer Hunt," he said. "I made it to the HP team and then played in the NCL. I now have a chance to bowl against England in the practice game. Hopefully I can do well and catch everyone's attention. I got to do gym with the national players, which is thrilling for me."