It would have been easier if we knew the English 11 before making our selections because we could select a team based on their strenghts and weaknesses. However, at the moment here's my selection for the first test (including batting order). I hope coach Dav Whatmore and the selection committee would look at all these suggestions posted by the fans.
1. Javed Omar
2. Nafees Iqbal
3. Khaled Masud
4. Mushfiqur Rahim
5. Habibul Bashar
6. Mohammad Ashraful
7. Aftab Ahmed
8. Mohammad Rafique
9. Mashrafe Mortaza
10. Enamul Haque Jr
11. Shahadat Hossain
Enamul Haque Jr is selected to be the trump card. The English are used to playing seamers in their conditions, so our seamers aren't guaranteed huge success. We could use Jr as an alternate to break big English partnerships. Aftab can serve as the relief bowler with his medium pace and also as a batsman.
The batting order looks bit different than usual because our typical problem is losing wickets early on, and then start struggling rest of the innings. By putting Masud and Rahim up in the order, we can establish an innings by not losing wickets, get the English bowlers tired, and then send our hard hitters (with higher strike rates) like Bashar, Ashraful, Aftab and Rafique.
It was very hard not to pick Rajin Saleh who's also an excellent fielder, and Tapash Baisya who's the workhorse of the team. Any substitutions should consider these two first. Depending on the performance of the 1st test, I'd also consider Shahriar Nafees and Anwar Hossain for the 2nd test.
LET'S GO FOR IT. With a little bit of planning and playing "smart" cricket, I believe we can upset the English.
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