Strauss calls for focus

Hard work ahead: Shakib (left) and Strauss

There's huge room for improvement.

Andrew Strauss
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England captain Andrew Strauss has warned his side against complacency when they take on Bangladesh at Lord's in the first Test of the summer.

The opening batsman is returning to the England set-up after being out of international action since January.

Strauss decided to skip the tour of Bangladesh and, as usual, did not figure in the Twenty20 squad that were recently crowned world champions.

The Tigers have never tasted victory in any format against England and suffered innings defeats in both of the Tests on their previous tour in 2005.

"You can't underestimate them," said Strauss.

"They've got some very dangerous players. This series, it's important we set standards very high.

"Sometimes if conditions aren't in our favour it'll be hard work.

"Other times, if they are in our favour, we hope we can put them under real pressure.

"We want to win handsomely. That'll breed more confidence in the squad."

Debut

Strauss will lead a team containing at least one debutan, Eoin Morgan on his home ground as an extra batsman more likely to get the nod ahead of Yorkshire pace bowler Ajmal Shahzad - who at 24, claims to be making his first trip to London.

The challenge for the captain is to calmly restate his own position and also help the new faces gel, as if he had never been away.

He is confident he can do all of that but warns, whatever the personnel, England - who have not lost a Test series for more than a year - still have improvements to make.

"We've had quite a lot of success over the last 12 months - the Ashes, World Twenty20, one-day success," he added.

"But we're still number five in the world in Test and ODI cricket, so it's not all about slapping each other's backs and telling everyone how brilliant it is.

"It's about continuing to do what we've set out in the last 12 months - work hard, make small improvements all the time.

"We don't make enough big hundreds, and we still want our fielding to be the best in the world.

"There's huge room for improvement."

Strauss' opposite number Shakib Al Hasan might easily say the same.

He, however, has been accentuating the positives as his team try to prove they can be competitive away from home.

Asked if Bangladesh can beat England, he asked: "Why not? If we take 20 wickets and our batsmen do their job, we have a fair chance.

"The way we've been playing for the last six months, we know we are very close to winning some games.

"But we need to stick to our basics and be very disciplined."

Chickenpox

Bangladesh hopes have risen in the past 24 hours after the captain and opening batsman Tamim Iqbal - who has a wrist injury - were both declared fit.

Shakib has endured a bizarre tour so far, unable to communicate face to face with his team - for fear of infecting them with chickenpox, from which he has just recovered.

"I've been kept away almost for two weeks. It was very hard, staying a whole day in your room," he said.

"It was weird, and a bit frustrating when you're not going with your team-mates for dinner or a practice session. You're missing everything. It was very hard.

"But I've been talking and going out with all the guys since, and we're feeling much better."

England (from): Andrew Strauss (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Alastair Cook, Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior (wkt), Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott

Bangladesh (from): Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Mahbubul Alam, Mohammad Ashraful, Rubel Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, Jahurul Islam, Naeem Islam, Robiul Islam, Shafiul Islam, Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mahmadullah, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Shamsur Rahman, Abdur Razzaq, Junaid Siddique