England captain Andrew Strauss has kept his cards close to his chest by insisting no final decision has been made on the starting XI for the second Test against Bangladesh.

The Old Trafford clash gets underway live on Sky Sports on Friday morning, with pace duo Ryan Sidebottom and Ajmal Shahzad both vying for a starting berth following an injury to Tim Bresnan.

Bresnan misses out after suffering a stress fracture in his foot during the eight-wicket first Test victory at Lord's.

Speaking ahead of the second and final Test, Strauss told Sky Sports News that the vacant spot in the side is still up for grabs.

Valuable

He said: "They both bring different attributes that we are weighing up at the moment.

"Ryan Sidebottom is obviously an experienced campaigner, we know pretty much what we are going to get from him. That experience might be valuable on this wicket.

"On the other hand Ajmal is new and exciting and has been in the squad a while and this might be an opportunity to have a look at him.

"These are the two arguments we are weighing up at the moment, it's not a bad situation to be in, we are pretty confident that both can do a good job here at Old Trafford."

Yorkshire paceman Shahzad was 12th man for the first Test while Sidebottom has not featured at this level since the fourth Test against South Africa at the start of the year.

However, Strauss insists the fact Shahzad has been in the squad from the start of the series does not necessarily make him the frontrunner to play.

"You pick the right side to win you a Test match," he said.

"We'll be looking at that tonight and like I said both have very obvious skills and strengths they can bring to the side and we have just got to weigh up more which one will help us win this Test match.

"Ultimately this match is all about putting in a better performance than we did at Lord's but also not underestimating Bangladesh. I think they showed us that they are a pretty tough nut to crack these days and we have got to be prepared to do that hard work we did at Lord's here again.

Example

"I think this wicket is likely to provide a bit more for the bowlers, generally there is a bit more pace and bounce there but we can't always be 100 per cent sure.

"You are always looking into a crystal ball a little bit when you are assessing what the wicket is going to do but I think it should suit our bowlers more."

Strauss, who was rested for the reverse tour of Bangladesh in February-March, marked his return to the side with back-to-back half-centuries at his home ground Lord's.

And he admitted: "Yeah it was good to get some runs. Coming back into the side you feel a bit of pressure to prove yourself once again. That is the business we are in, you are constantly having to prove yourself.

"It was good to get a couple of 80s, disappointed not to get a hundred. You want to settle back quickly and as captain you want to lead by example."

Warwickshire's Jonathan Trott set the platform for the series-opening victory with a mammoth 226 in England's first-innings 505 all out.

"We were very happy with the way Jonathan played, getting that double hundred is something we are looking as a side to do more and more of," Strauss added.

"I think he demonstrated very capably what you need to do if you are going to score double hundreds and that is stick to your gameplan and get a nice even tempo to your innings and he did that fantastically well."