England's two Tests in Bangladesh starting on Friday come with a sub-plot that threatens to be more fascinating than the main event.

Kevin Pietersen arrived in international cricket five years ago with such clamour that it seems preposterous for him to be locked in such a grim struggle to find form, and it is all starting to get a little bit out of hand.

It began when he lost the captaincy following an acrimonious tussle with the then coach, Peter Moores.

The ECB, as the employer of both men, sacked Moores and was about to do the same to Pietersen when, in January 2009, the skipper announced his resignation. He has been a shadow of his normal self since then.

In 2008 he hit five Test centuries; he hasn't managed one since. Even taking into account the three Ashes Tests he missed through injury, that's still 12 Tests without a three-figure score, easily his longest barren run.

The situation is even worse in one-day internationals when in the same period of time he has a best score of 48 in 10 innings.

It is important to add that Twenty20 cricket is providing some much-needed respite, but the really worrying aspect of Pietersen's demise is that things appear to be getting progressively worse in the more established formats.

Bangladesh A wicketkeeper Saghir Hossain is most amused by Pietersen's plight

His last four scores in the Tests in South Africa? 0, 6, 7 and 12. His best score in the ODIs in Bangladesh? 22. His scores in the three-day match just completed against Bangladesh A? 2 and 20.

The strangest thing about Pietersen's current demise is his vulnerability when facing orthodox left-arm spin.

A variety of slow bowling often purveyed by those who seek chiefly to contain - think Ashley Giles - the angles have so bewildered Pietersen that he has now perished 33 times in his international career to bowlers like Daniel Vettori (New Zealand), Yuvraj Singh (India), Sulieman Benn (West Indies), and even Canada's Sunil Dhaniram.

England's best spinner of the 1990s, Phil Tufnell, was also a slow left-armer, and believes that while there are technical issues that need to be tinkered with, Pietersen will soon return to form.

"I'm sure Andy Flower and the coaching team are looking into it as we speak," Tufnell told me.

"It's one of those things. Some batsmen can't play the short ball and keep getting out on the hook. When I came out to bat I just got a lot of bouncers because I was a bit scared.

"With Pietersen at the moment he seems to be getting out to the slow left-armers. He looks a little bit unsure in his defence and that means you don't have a steady platform to attack.

"There's a technical issue in that he is not a natural off-side player, he doesn't defend to mid-off. He wants to hit through the on-side but if his head is too far over he's an lbw candidate. Then if it turns a little bit he can find himself nicking to slip."

Tufnell, who firmly refutes the idea that Pietersen should be dropped from the England set-up, even temporarily, also refuses to buy into the notion that the loss of captaincy is a factor.

Instead he feels the Achilles injury that kept him out of cricket for much of last year might have had a bigger impact.

"Batting should be second nature to someone like him. But the injury might have been quite a bit more serious than we anticipated and I don't think it's helped his agility at the crease."

Bangladesh's cricket team may be deficient in some aspects, but in slow left-arm stocks they are not.

No less than three have been picked in their squad for Friday. England, on the other hand, have only one variety of spinner - Graeme Swann and James Tredwell both turn the ball the other way - so Pietersen can only rely on local net bowlers to practice his skills against slow left-arm.

It might have been an idea for Giles, now an England selector, to fly out and lend a hand. But currently donning his other hat as Warwickshire's director of cricket he is instead on a plane to South Africa for the county's pre-season tour.

Though he also had problems facing seam bowlers in the past 15 months, it is spinners of every variety who are likely to test Pietersen's resolve in England's next two Tests.

Pietersen's final day century in the 2005 Ashes seems a very long time ago

Robin Smith, the last high-profile England batsman prior to Pietersen to have learnt his art in South Africa, became bedevilled by the slow stuff late in his career. He was once memorably compared by The Independent's Martin Johnson to a "lion in a delicatessen" and the same can apply to Pietersen.

When a batsman with Pietersen's strength and talent suddenly lacks confidence when facing spin, the game of cricket can look mystifying indeed.

The trouble is, if he doesn't get out poking around like an old lady at a church fete he gets out playing an expansive shot, which is exactly what happened when he was bowled by part-timer Mohammad Ashraful on Wednesday. Which, exactly, is the more pernicious mode of dismissal?

"You can create a lot of doubt in your mind," says Tufnell.

"It really is about playing every ball on its merits, but that does come with confidence and having a really sound defence."

So, just eight months from an Ashes series, England fans have every right to be concerned that the most naturally destructive batsman in the land is currently firing blanks.

If there is one man who can differentiate between form and class it is Steve Waugh, who said recently of Pietersen: "He is a great player and great players save their best for the toughest opposition.

"He will have a big series against Australia, I have no doubt about it, and will most likely be England's leading run-scorer."

When a man who has won as many Test matches as Waugh is in your camp, surely things cannot be that bad.

But it would help a great deal if we did not have to wait beyond the two Tests in Chittagong and Dhaka to see Pietersen find his mojo.

England will certainly be used to conditions at the Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Friday, having already played a one-day international and a three-day warm-up game at the ground this week.

It's an interesting venue situated around half an hour's drive from the centre of the city - I say, half an hour's drive, but just like in Dhaka, journey times vary massively depending on the level of traffic on the road and even though life here in Chittagong is not quite as hectic as in the capital, every trip to the ground has its fair share of drama.

I have found that the best policy when travelling here in Bangladesh is to keep your eyes closed and try not to let the cacophony of noise around you cause too much alarm. I am not sure quite how the colourful array of rickshaws, auto rickshaws, buses with people hanging off the sides and carts laden down with goods all manage to avoid each other. Maybe its all down to the liberal use of the horn which seems to be the main weapon in navigating your way through the random streams of traffic.

When you finally get to the ZA stadium, you find a venue with plenty of character. From the top of the stand where we are broadcasting you can just about make out the Bay of Bengal, which is the location of perhaps Chittagong's most famous landmark, a ship graveyard.

Spread along the shore just a few miles north of the city lies a stretch of tidal mud which, since 1969, has been the world's main centre for dismantling large boats including oil tankers. The metal from the ships is re-processed and used as a major part of the country's steel supplies. Nothing goes to waste - even the doorknobs and toilets are removed and re-sold and the last drops of oil from the tanker's holds are drained and put on sale.

As well as the sea, you can also make out a fair amount of greenery from the top of the stand at the stadium including the famous Chittagong Hill Tracts, the only intensive hill area in Bangladesh. They run for 13,000 kms bordering India and Burma and are one of the country's main tourist attractions. Our scorer Danny Byrne has spent the last few days between the ODI's and Test matches exploring the hill tracts and it will be fascinating to hear his experiences.

Chittagong's famous ship graveyard is visible from the top of the stand

As well as hills and water, there is also a fair amount of livestock on view from the stadium. Goats and cattle happily chew the grass around the car park at the ground although the high number of security guards around will I'm sure prevent any of them making their way onto the outfield during play!

The action at the ground has also been interesting - especially on the final day of England's warm-up match.

Myself and Simon Mann located ourselves next to the official scorers for the match as information can sometimes be a little scarce at these practice games. All was relatively calm for two days before Alastair Cook and Michael Carberry started to bowl in the half hour before lunch on the final day.

As an incredible 189 runs were plundered in just nine overs and the poor scorers and the scoreboard operators at the other side of the ground just could not keep up and we went into the unusual situation of no-one having any clear idea of what the score actually was for quite some time. I'm not sure Cook will be checking the scorebook too often, however, after bowling five overs for 111 runs!

Poor old Kevin Pietersen could have done with some friendly bowling to kickstart his tour but again departed for a low score. To be fair, he actually looked in pretty good nick for the 20 runs he made and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a few in the first Test.

He'll definitely feature on Friday - but the make-up of the rest of the team will be fascinating. It looks like Tredwell and Bresnan have done enough to win selection and with Onions almost certainly out and Broad still to prove his fitness, young Steve Finn may make his debut after bowling well in the warm-up match. Then there is the question of whether England open with Michael Carberry who would make a dream debut four years after almost giving up the game when languishing in the Kent second team. If England play five bowlers then Trott or even Ian Bell may open. All will be revealed at around 0300 Friday morning.

Our team for the Test series is Bangladesh veteran Simon Mann, who is making his third trip to this country. He'll be joined by "the analyst" Simon Hughes who will once again be part of the TMS team following tours with us previously to India and Sri Lanka and we'll also have top Bangladesh broadcaster Shamim Chowdhury in our commentary box again following his successful stint in the one-day series.

Expert analysis will come from Mark Butcher who batted for England on their previous tour to this country six years ago. He'll be joined by Dominic Cork, who has been bowling at England in the nets this week as he builds up for his county season with Hampshire, and Athar Ali Khan, who played international cricket for Bangladesh for 13 years.

As well as ball-by-ball commentary we'll have plenty for you during the intervals. On Friday, we'll have a special profile of Alastair Cook on his first day as England Test captain, we'll also be live in India as the third Indian Premier League gets underway and have a special interview with Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons, who was with the Australian side which lost to Bangladesh famously in Cardiff in 2005.

With Sport Relief only a few days away, on Saturday we'll be hearing about a project here in Chittagong which has been funded by previous appeals and we'll be joined by former England captain Alec Stewart who will be telling us about a Sport Relief event in Surrey - and on Sunday we'll focus on the amazing story of how a team from Afghanistan qualified for the ICC World Twenty20.

The text commentary will of course be in operation and look out for the TMS podcast after each days play with the two Simon's Hughes and Mann and more pictures on the TMS Flickr. As always we want to hear from you - especially if you are up on Friday at 0315 for the start of our commentary - you can comment on this blog , email tms@bbc.co.uk or text 84040.

And finally thanks to the many of you who have already sent kind messages after our double success at the Sports Journalists' Association Awards on Monday evening. We were thrilled that Test Match Special was named "Radio Programme of the Year" and Jonathan Agnew "Radio Broadcaster of the Year". A great honour for us.

Nobody could have predicted back in 2000 that a format of the game designed to capitalise on long English summer evenings could have mushroomed into the same format that has Bollywood superstars falling over themselves to get involved with.

But if the Noughties will be regarded as the decade in which cricket discovered Twenty20, it's also coming up to the 10th anniversary of Bangladesh's bow as a Test-playing nation. Their record reads like this: played 64, won three, drawn six, lost 55.

It's not exactly the most compelling run of results. And if we really wanted to twist the knife we could attach some mighty great asterisks to those three victories.

The first was against a hopelessly green Zimbabwe side who had eight players aged 21 or younger. And their two wins in the Caribbean last year were achieved when 13 top West Indians went on strike.

Much will depend on Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan in future years

But whereas the inexorable rise of Twenty20 has come out of the blue, Bangladesh's struggles to gain a foothold on the Test ladder in their first decade of five-day cricket have been more predictable.

New Zealand spent 26 years lurching from one defeat to another before registering their first Test victory, while India took 20.

Test cricket is an attritional game. It is no good dominating for a couple of sessions or even a couple of days. You can work desperately hard to forge a match-winning position and then fritter it away with a couple of silly shots or a shoddy hour of bowling.

Frustratingly for the romantics who yearn for giant-killings it just hasn't quite happened for Bangladesh. They so nearly humbled Pakistan in 2003 only for Inzamam-ul-Haq to tear up the fairytale script in his hometown, Multan.

And Australia were hurtling towards a dramatic defeat in Fatullah in 2006, whereupon Ricky Ponting hit a spoiling century as Bangladesh's long-suffering spinner Mohammad Rafique appeared to be circling for the kill.

I asked Dav Whatmore, about to embark on his first season at the helm of IPL glamour team Kolkata Knight Riders, to reflect on Bangladesh's decade, and found him frustratingly guarded. Whatmore was Bangladesh coach from 2003 to 2007 when they are generally acknowledged to have made significant progress, particularly in one-day internationals.

They famously triumphed over Australia in Cardiff during that period, before dumping India out of the World Cup in the Caribbean in 2007 and beating pre-tournament favourites South Africa in the Super Eight stage.

Whatmore left after what appeared a breakthrough tournament for Bangladesh, but the team have not really picked up and reached the next level since then.

However he is reluctant to make general observations about the team, sensitive as he is to the negative criticism which he believes does them no favours at all.

If there is one mantra that he clings to it is this: "I would really, really hope that the Bangladesh Cricket Board will ensure their domestic competitions are as strong as they can possibly be.

"I'm a big, big believer that the national team is a product of what you do domestically. Bangladesh needs a good, vibrant one-day competition, a strong four-day competition, and the Twenty20 game should also be looked after."

My e-mail to the BCB requesting an interview with current coach Jamie Siddons went unanswered, so I contacted the popular, long-standing fans forum banglacricket.com to get a view about the current state of the game.

Editor Razab Quasem Chowdhury gave me an excellent assessment. "I think Bangladesh has the wherewithal to be a mid-range power with the occasional season on top," he says.

"We will never have the money, talent-pool or first-class infrastructure of an India, Australia or England but given the enthusiasm for the sport I can see us easily being consistently a number four or number five in world cricket."

Four players to keep an eye on, he says, are Tamim Iqbal, the 20-year-old left-hander who hit 125 in the first one-day international against England, skipper Shakib Al Hasan, ranked the third best bowler in ODIs, wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim and fast bowler Rubel Hossain.

"They will carry the flame for us," says Chowdhury. "The main reason is their mental maturity. They are the first generation of cricketers who were 'born' into Test-hood in that Bangladesh was already a Test-playing country in their formative years. "As such they are more able to handle the mental demands placed on an international player."

Even if its slow, low pitches are not conducive to getting the most out of young fast-bowling prodigies, Bangladesh should have enough going for it to make a serious fist of being a top player in world cricket.

Though football is making a comeback, cricket remains the number one sport for this densely-populated nation bordered on three sides by India, the uber-power in cricket. And the talent pool that comes with having 160 million inhabitants, around 40 times more than New Zealand, should also be a positive factor.

The game also has a rich pageantry in the country, the capital, Dhaka, having staged seven Tests hosted by Pakistan between 1955 and 1969 before Bangladesh's independence was established in 1972.

And yet, the money from the ICC and broadcasting companies is still not filtering through to where it should. Chowdhury tells me facilities at the local clubs remain poor, with concrete pitches dominating, while in the cities there is not enough green space to cater for demand.

More encouragingly, he says youngsters from all backgrounds are encouraged to play - and it must help that in Shakib they have an ideal role model, a boy who did not hold a cricket ball until he was 15 and whose first experience of the game was on patches of waste ground in his hometown, Magura.

Cricket is considered an aspirational goal, a viable profession. Parents, says Chowdhury, are thus less likely to try to prevent their children from pursuing it as a career choice.

But, like many posting on his message-boards, he wants the game's administrators to do more, and not just those within the country.

"We would like the Indian board to be better stewards of the game. The top two first-class sides in Bangladesh should be invited to perform in an Indian first-class tournament, with perhaps top sides from Pakistan and Sri Lanka invited as well.

"We also need way, way more A tours to close the gap between our feeble first-class standards and the big leagues."

"Hear Them Roar" proclaims the banner at the top of the BCB's official website. For 10 years it's been largely quiet whimpering in the corner, but nobody should give up hope that one day Bangladesh will deserve to be called the Tigers.

3-0, job done.

It was the least England expected against a Bangladesh side who showed flashes of promise but proved they still have plenty to learn. It was a satisfying result for Alastair Cook in what is still a banana-skin of a series, and the way he pounced upon a commemorative stump at the end of the final game in Chittagong showed just how much pride he took in securing a series whitewash, in his first serious outing as England captain.

On the evidence of the last game, Cook must know that Craig Kieswetter is Andrew Strauss' opening partner-in-waiting when Strauss returns to take over the captaincy. I remember a day in Taunton back in 2006 when I was chatting to the Somerset director of cricket Brian Rose. He spoke in gushing terms about a wicketkeeper/batsman he had in the second XI at the time. Kieswetter, then 18, was finishing his education at Millfield School, was a hard hitter of the ball, Rose said, and a handy gloveman too. Brian had a knowing glint in his eye, and now the wider public can see why.

Sterner tests than Bangladesh will come, that's for sure, but for now, it's exciting to think what lies ahead for the 22-year-old, and Somerset fans will surely have to get used to life with a little less Kieswetter.

Plenty has been written about Eoin Morgan, since he completed victory in the second one-day international with an astonishing unbeaten century. In the likeable Irishman, England have found a batsman with a cool head, an outrageous stroke player and, most importantly, a middle-order finisher who can calculate and pace his innings.

The cricket world got a glimpse of what he could do during an audacious half century against South Africa at the Champions Trophy in September, and his display in Dhaka confirmed his precocious talent. He will now pit himself against some of the world's top players at the IPL, and England will benefit from him honing his skills in the game's shortest format when it comes to the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean in May.

It was another disappointing series for Kevin Pietersen, who made scores of one, 18 and 22. We should wait until the Test series is over before too many judgements are made, but he will know only too well that the pressure is on like never before. He was returned to action (rather hurriedly it must be said) in the early part of the South Africa tour, and he is yet to return to the standards he has set throughout his career.

Alastair Cook celebrates England's win in Chittagong

While England continue to win, his poor scores can be carried. England need a firing KP by the time Pakistan visit in the summer. Having him back to something like his best at the World T20, before paternity kicks in, would help too.

Without Ryan Sidebottom or Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan carried himself and the attack highly competently in the final game of the series. His career-best 4-28 ensured he finished as England's leading wicket taker with eight from three matches. Elsewhere, fellow Yorkshireman Ajmal Shahzad showed himself to have good pace and Graeme Swann had another consistent series, reaping rewards with his attacking brand of off-spin (7 wickets at 17.42).

What the side needs now, and which was stated in no uncertain terms by coach Andy Flower after the Chittagong game, is a spinner to complement Swann and crucially, add variety. Flower identified a left-arm spinner, also an all-rounder. Samit Patel, he was asked? The Nottinghamshire all-rounder was dropped from the England team in March last year amid public criticism of his poor (or lack of) fitness ethic. He's been out in Adelaide this winter training at the Darren Lehmann Cricket Academy, and if ever a call to arms was put out by an England coach, this was it.

Patel will have a lot to prove to a number of people within the England camp if he's to get his chance again. But whilst his fitness has been a problem, his talent never has been. Adil Rashid, for all the variety that leg-spin can bring, is clearly not the ticket England are looking for, after his couple of winters carrying the drinks.

Looking at the series from Bangladesh's point of view, Tamim Iqbal's century in the opening ODI will be remembered for quite some time. It has long been a trait of Bangladesh batsmen to go for their shots early, often resulting in a collapse or inability to see out the overs. OK, Bangladesh were ultimately bowled out in that innings but Tamim's onslaught was one of sheer guts and flair. It was breathtaking, and he carried the innings to a respectable total. More Bangladesh batsmen need the ability to concentrate for longer periods, and this will be their biggest challenge come the Tests.

The army of spin bowlers at Bangladesh's disposal will always be their weapon on slow subcontinent pitches, but the country is yet to hunt out a real aggressor to come in behind the experienced Mashrafe Mortaza, who missed the ODIs for personal reasons, and who has been suffering fitness problems for some time now.

Ultimately, international cricket is a slow learning curve, especially for young players. And Bangladesh continue to learn.

So England have negotiated the one-dayers. Next up are the two Tests, and whilst Sidebottom has been sent home injured, the news on Broad and Graham Onions seems more positive ahead of the first Test, which starts next Friday. For Cook, this is where his captaincy will be most thoroughly judged. Two-nil? Again, the least England will expect.

Well, what can I say - we finished up losing the one-day series 3-2, which is not the result we had hoped for but India played some very good cricket.

We weren't quite up to the necessary standard with the bat but Mithali Raj was the main difference - she showed why she is ranked world number one with four half centuries and an average of 143.5!

Personally, I felt in great form, but I didn't do as well as I would have liked for the team. I was very happy to get promoted from three to opener, which is where I love to bat (who doesn't fancy the hard ball coming on in the first few overs!!!), as the pitches have been pretty good despite a bit of swing through the air early on and Gouher Sultana managing to get some big turn with left-arm orthodox spin.

Mithali Raj's bating was the key to India's series victory - Pic: Getty

The wicket here at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai is fantastic and following our win in the last one-day game here, we are set up nicely for an exciting T20 series.

Although I have been to India twice before, this is my first time touring to different parts of the country and there have been some major differences in the crowds..

The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore was a large ground with a small number of relatively sedate supporters, but when we moved on to the ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapnam (Vizag), the lively, buzzing crowd lived for every ball, bringing the impressive venue to life.

It was amazing to hear the constant banging to a beat, cheering, waving and calling of your name and facing the first ball from the Indian fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, with the crowd going wild and having to concentrate on the little white ball coming towards my head was the best feeling I have ever experienced. I absolutely loved it!

Off the pitch it has been a quiet tour, not much time to do anything other than play, train, team meetings, weights or recovery sessions, but I was fortunate enough to find a few minutes to get to the Kali Temple, near our hotel in Vizag with Isa (Guha). It was an amazing experience to be allowed in and experience first hand the prayers and worship, and also to watch girls being taught classical Indian dancing.

We were also lucky enough to spend 15 minutes on the beach one evening, to experience the buzz of the local area at night.

Before I finish this blog a special mention has to go to Danny (Danielle Wyatt), Dani (Danielle Hazell) and Heather (Heather Knight).

Danny and Heather made their international debuts in the final ODI and showed the strength in depth we have in women's cricket in England at the moment.

Heather got us off to a flying start, opening the batting with composure and maturity to score 49. Yes, she is being fined for jug avoidance, although she claims she didn't realise she was on for a half century! Danny then scored a match-winning 26, playing smart cricket, which was delightful to watch.

I have to say, though, that Dani Hazell played for me the two shots of the series, a back-foot drive through cover from her first ball and a flat-bat straight back past the bowler off the front foot. These girls have great character both on and off the pitch and look like they will play a major part of the future.

Spending time with them off the pitch also reminds me why I enjoy playing and being part of a team, they all have a great sense of humour and are fun to be around, with lots of youthful energy to help keep our team in high spirits.

It is one of the sad parts of modern touring that cricketers don't often have much of an opportunity to get to know the places where they are visiting.

Partly this is because of modern scheduling , where most of the time players only get to see airports and cricket grounds as fixtures are packed together as tightly as possible, and partly of course because of concerns about security.

So it was great to see several members of the England squad making the trip to the Sher-e-Bangla Primary School in Dhaka and for a very good cause.

Since 2006 the England cricket team have been involved with a campaign called "Cricket against hunger" working alongside the United Nations World Food Programme. It aims to highlight the work being done across the world to help improve particularly the lives of young people.

Eleven members of England's touring team were at the primary school firstly to help distribute nourishing biscuits provided by the World food programme and then to play a special game of cricket against the school children.

I managed to grab a word with England bowler Ryan Sidebottom whilst he was on the outfield during the game and he told me things were not necessarily going England's way. "We're getting smacked everywhere, lots of fours and sixes. I hope things improve for us on the tour!"

Ryan Sidebottom throws a ball to a girl during the visit to the school. (Pic: AFP)

But despite the challenges of the match against the youngsters, Sidebottom said the visit had left a lasting impression on him.

"It's great to be here - very humbling and a real privilege," he explained. "As England cricketers we can sometimes live in our own bubble and be a bit selfish but this is a fantastic occasion, a chance to put smiles on faces. We feel very special, many of us have families and it makes you realise how lucky we are at home."

John Aylieff, the World food programme representative in Bangladesh, gave me an idea of the sort of issues being faced here.

"There are 60m people here who are hungry , that's about the population of the UK. Most of the kids at this school come from slum areas and will at best eat one meal a day," he said.

By giving these biscuits we are at least giving the kids a breakfast and encouraging them into school so they also get an education."

Aylieff says that despite the problems here, he is very impressed with how people are coping.

"They show great resilience and spirit and there's nothing like cricket to help keep spirits high. For many of the kids at this school this cricket match against England will be the highlight of their whole lives. We work with a motivated government here and lots of other agencies and together we are making a huge difference," he explained.

One of those agencies is the UK aid programme and its Bangladesh head Chris Austin, a keen cricket fan himself, was also at the school. "In Bangladesh 50 per cent of the children under five are malnourished," he told me.

"They won't grow properly, they won't learn properly. Plus there is a seasonal problem between rice crops as well as a growing population expected to reach over 200m soon in a country the size of the UK. But Bangladesh can feed itself and has impressive strategies for coping for example with climate change issues. We are just here to help them implement them."

At the end of the match hundreds of the children, who had been cheering enthusiastically on the sidelines, were allowed to run on to the field to get autographs signed by the England players. It was an amazing sight to see for example six-foot plus Stuart Broad towering over dozens of youngsters as they surrounded him on the outfield.

One of the students, Ruhul, who had been involved in the game summed up what the day meant to him. "It's a dream come true to play with these cricket stars - I'll never forget today," he said.

You'll be able to hear my special report on England's visit to the Shere-e-Bangla school during the interval of Tuesday's second one-day international in Dhaka.

We are on the air at 0745 on 5 live sports extra and Radio Four long wave with regular reports over on Five Live and the text commentary of course here at bbc.co.uk/cricket. And you can see more of England's school visit and other pictures from behind the scenes on the TMS Flickr site.

Dhaka is known as the "Rickshaw Capital of the World" with reportedly over 400,000 of the famous two wheeled carts making slow progress along the cities roads every day.

I say slow progress because so far the horrendous traffic here in the capital of Bangladesh is the only negative side of what has so far been an enjoyable start to this tour.

Dhaka is one of the densest populated cities on the planet with they say more than 40,000 people for every square kilometre, that is more than ten times the figure for London. And it can sometimes seem that virtually every one of those people here has some sort of vehicle out on the road at any one time.

But the secret, as I discovered on the first morning of the opening match of the tour, is to get to the roads early. I had been warned to allow up to two hours for the relatively short trip to Fatullah on the outskirts of Dhaka, so I arranged to leave my hotel at 6am so that I made the 9am start in good time. Needless to say, I actually arrived at the ground at 6.25am!

You are never quite sure what to expect when you turn up to a new ground for the match of a tour, so I was a little nervous when I arrived at the Narayangonj Osmani Stadium. At first, I wasn't sure I was in the right place as initially there was no sign of players, officials or anything resembling a crowd. But I was then strangely reassured to see a large bus pull up next to me full of soldiers and security men. Unfortunately, in the current climate this is an obvious sign that you have arrived at a international sporting event.

As I got out of the car, I was met by an official from the Bangladesh Cricket Board who announced that he was waiting to personally escort me to a commentary box. After a brief tour of the facilties he introduced me to one of his colleagues, Alam, who he informed me was to be my "BBC helper" for the day. Alam is a local cricketer who had been employed to provide any assistance I needed throughout the game.

While the broadcast lines were being fitted in the morning, Alam helped me find a suitable roof where I could set up the small satellite dish I was using to make contact with 5 live to bring early news on the game. The roof I found was also being used as a security base - and it was more than a little intimidating trying to describe Craig Kieswetter's fantastic batting surrounded by 15 soldiers all armed with large rifles.

England's Craig Kieswetter enjoys a trip in one of Dhaka's many rickshaws

Disturbingly, one of the soldiers seemed to be taking extra interest in what I was saying and was getting more and more anxious as my report went on. As I finished he came over and I feared what might happen next. He then put his hand in his pocket to pull something out - but it turned out he had a small portable radio with him which, he showed me, he had tuned to the BBC World Service. The reason he was looking anxious was that I think he was expecting the report I was doing to be going out live on his radio. I'm not sure he understood my explanation of the different kind of BBC outlets, but he seemed happy enough and bid me farewell with the words "I see you for the next bulletin."

The opening warm-up game was an enjoyable affair thanks especially to the fantastic hitting of Kieswetter. There may be some debate about another South African-born player in the England set-up but he seems a impressive young man and potentially quite a player. The last few days have not been such a good experience for another South African-born batsman, Kevin Pietersen and he will be pleased to see the back of fast bowler Alauddin Babu who conjured up a genie from the lamp to dismiss him twice in two days for a total of six runs.

However, after his impressive batting in Dubai, there is no doubt about Pietersen's place - but there'll be plenty for England's selectors to ponder ahead of the one-day series. Matt Prior, despite being bizarrely reprieved when the umpire called a dead ball because of music playing in the ground, probably did enough to retain his place with an unbeaten 64 in the second game. Ryan Sidebottom looked fit and bowled with trademark aggression - but who will join him in the bowling attack with Shahzad, Plunkett and Tredwell all putting up good cases to join probably Broad and Bresnan.

Well, you won't have long to find out what England do because after the warm-up games the action starts in earnest on Sunday morning with the first one-day international.

I'm delighted to confirm that Test Match Special will have ball-by-ball commentary on the whole of the tour which consists of three ODI's and two Test matches on BBC 5 live sports extra and BBC Radio 4 Long Wave.

Leading our team will be Simon Mann, who is making his third visit to Bangladesh. He will be joined by "The Analyst" Simon Hughes who will be returning to the TMS commentary box following spells with us in Sri Lanka and India and during last summer's ICC World Twenty20. We will also be joined by top Bangladesh cricket commentator Shamim Chowdhury. Providing expert analysis will be the former England all-rounder Dominic Cork, Mark Butcher, who was part of the England side which last toured Bangladesh in 2003, and former Bangladesh player Athar Ali Khan.

There will be regular updates on BBC Radio 5 live throughout the tour - plus, here at bbc.co.uk/cricket , as well as the text commentary there will be Test Match Special podcasts and blogs. Also, keep checking the TMS Flickr page for photographs from behind the scenes.

So join us on Sunday morning from 0745 GMT on BBC 5 live sports extra and the BBC Sport website, and from 0800 on BBC Radio 4 Long Wave.

How great it is to be back in India. The warm weather is a far cry from the recent snow at home and cricket is absolutely everywhere. From the adverts to the endless cricket channels on TV, it is great to be here with the many great cricketers in and around the stadium.

In particular Michael Vaughan, who was here working with the England Under-18's boys. He was kind enough to give us a team talk before our warm-up match which inspired me greatly. It was interesting to hear a fantastic England captain talking about taking responsibility, looking at yourself in the mirror and the challenges of trying to get to and stay on the top. A challenge which we are fully aware of and at the same time excited about.

Ebony Rainford-Brent will be part of England's tour including five ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals

So, after our inspiring talk before our warm-up match it was nice to get off to a good start, beating a Board President's XI comfortably, by over 100 runs. Our top order scored well, with Squirt (Sarah Taylor) and Lydia (Greenway) both cashing in with healthy half centuries, to get us a total of 273. For me personally it was not the greatest start, getting out by missing a straight one for one run, but to be positive I told myself it's always best to get them out of the way early.

On the morning of our first one-day international I was excited - it's always a great feeling to represent your country. I was given the number three spot of the legendary Claire Taylor, where I rarely bat at, so I was looking forward to the challenge.

I was also excited about facing Jhulan Goswami as I have admired her for many years and was looking forward to seeing how I faced up to her. We bowled first and Nunny (Katherine Brunt) and Anyanka (Anya Shrubsole) got us of to a great start bowling tight and throwing in a few aggressive bouncers. We performed well in the field restricting the Indians to 199, which we would be happy with on most days.

In our batting innings we got off to a slow start and lost Sarah Taylor early, meaning I was in against Goswami. She is one of the best female bowlers I have ever faced, bowling tight lines on off.

After we saw her off I was away. We needed to get on with it and managed to up the rate by hitting 16 off one over. I was gutted to get out to a low full toss lbw in the 60s, as I really needed to have stayed in and finished the job. This became more evident as we lost our last six wickets for 19 runs and fell short by 35 runs.

Although a poor batting performance, we are aware we are a quality squad and still have an opportunity to come back and win the series. Personally, it is always nice to make a few runs at number three and if I get more chances to bat, I will see if I can stick at it to take the game home...so I guess it's watch this space!

Before my own blog was launched, I contributed to the BBC TMS blog. Here are some of those entries:

On top of the world
Two days after the World Twenty20 Final and I am still absolutely gobsmacked. The magnitude of what happened over the last few days hadn't really sunk in until breakfast yesterday.

Perfect setting for semi-final
So we're through to the Twenty20 semi-finals and will be playing at The Oval on Friday - for me, it's the perfect setting, my home ground, right where I grew up.

More competitive, more positive, fewer overs
It's really good to be back with the girls again. Although we have trained and played warm-up games together, there is always a buzz and excitement when you meet up as a group for the start of a tournament.

Team unity key to success
To say the past few days have been hectic would be somewhat of an understatement, although there was a moment when we thought we had lost the World Cup trophy on our return to England!

Dreaming of glory
Sunday is a massive day for all of us - without a doubt it will be the biggest day of our cricketing lives and something we have all been working so hard for. The majority of the England squad played in the 2005 World Cup when we didn't reach the final and I know that hurt.

More discipline, more aggression, more fabulous
So we arrived in Canberra after a long three-hour drive and got straight into our training session in preparation for our first World Cup match after the two warm-up games.

World Cup dream becomes reality
The start of the World Cup is finally here. This is something I have been building up to for the last five months since being selected, dreaming and thinking about it every spare moment and I am really excited.

In the end, England were not able to produce a third great escape to win the Test series here in South Africa. But had they held on for a couple of extra hours at the Wanderers on Sunday they might have just managed to do it.

Johannesburg was hit by a huge thunderstorm in the afternoon which would have washed out any play after tea - and on Monday the city was hit by heavy rain and dark cloud which may have made conditions impossible on what would have been the scheduled final day.

Whether it would have been right for England to win the series is obviously highly debatable although this morning's newspapers here in South Africa leave you in little doubt about what they think.

Stuart Hess, writing in the Johannesburg Star, states: "There are those who believe that England deserved to get something out of the Test series. They'd be wrong. The outcome was not a true reflection of the standard these two sides displayed, for South Africa were much the better team. England were resilient throughout, showed a lot of character, but even their own captain recognised they were the inferior team."

Despite England's rather disappointing capitulation yesterday morning it has overall been a gripping Test series. As England clung on to nail-biting draws at Centurion and Newlands we got a great picture through your e-mails and texts of how you were nervously listening to Test Match Special.

It was almost too much for TMS new boy Michael Vaughan at Newlands who turned to Jonathan Agnew during the final over to say "I'm sorry Aggers, I just can't watch this". Jonathan quickly replied: "I'm sorry you've got to. Remember how many times you put us through this sort of thing when you were captain."

One of my favourite stories of people listening to the series came from Steve in Oxford who e-mailed us when England were taking important wickets one afternoon. He told us: "I am currently invigilating an exam and just jumped for joy at that wicket, disturbed everyone, but I don't care! A few more and I might never be doing this job again!"

At Cape Town we were joined by Duncan Fletcher, who I think surprised many by displaying a great sense of humour which was rather kept under wraps during his tenure as England coach.

"Fletch" did, however, discover the danger of taking the mickey out of someone on air. After mentioning ex-England physio Dean Conway's penchant for cakes he was disturbed to receive a text straight away from the Welshman with a few choice phrases which thankfully Duncan did not divulge on air!

As for Vaughan he has been able to offer some fascinating insight into the current players and it has been incredible how many times he managed to predict what was going to happen. However Michael did also manage to quickly master the infamous commentators curse. It got so bad at Centurion that listeners were begging me not to allow him back on the radio because he was taking so many wickets!

It has been a series not without controversy, especially surrounding the Decision Review System, described on Saturday by ECB chairman Giles Clarke on TMS as a "shambles".

From a commentary point of view it can be a real shame that the dramatic moment of a wicket being taken is slightly lost with the often prolonged process of a decision going to review. On the other hand, if more decisions are made correctly then that is good for the game and I suspect we will all get used to extra delays.

TMS listeners believe the crowd at games has to be included in the process. They sit in complete ignorance not knowing what has been asked for and why a decision is overturned or not. This is simply not good enough for people who have paid a lot of money to go to games to be excluded from one of the key parts of play. The ICC must act to sort this out.

We shall see how the review system goes down in Bangladesh, where England are next in action following a brief visit to the United Arab Emirates.

It will also be fascinating to see how Alastair Cook gets on as England captain and it will be interesting to find out how good Yorkshire bowler Ajmal Shahzad is. Both Michael Vaughan and Geoff Boycott have been singing his praises over the last few weeks.

I feel a bit sorry for another Yorkshire player Adil Rashid, who after bowling in the nets all over the world in the past few years is not included on a tour where he may have had a real chance of playing in a Test.

The resting of Andrew Strauss will of course be controversial with several former England captains already saying he should be leading the team on the tour - although our own Geoff Boycott and Michael Vaughan have backed the decision.

Boycott told us that the focus has to be on the Ashes next year rather than Bangladesh whilst Vaughan said in his question-and-answer piece for BBC Sport "just because I didn't get a break as England captain doesn't mean that it was right."

Our own radio coverage of the Bangladesh tour is still being finalised. Keep checking bbc.co.uk/cricket and we'll bring you news as soon as we have it.

Finally, thanks for listening to our coverage of this South Africa tour and thanks for all your e-mails and texts. And sorry if at times it was not the most relaxing listen for you, but that's what happens when you follow the fortunes of the England cricket team!

The Author of This Liberated Article Is: Dan
O'Connor

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