England Cook up a sweet 2-0 series victory against a resilient Bangladesh

England maintained their faultless record against Bangladesh in international cricket following a 2-0 series triumph, clinched by a nine wickets victory in Mirpur. It wasn't all as easy for England as the overall score line may suggest however, with Bangladesh converting an overnight score of 172-6 into a respectable 285, Shakib al Hasan last out for 96 shortly after lunch. Al Hasan gave a further indication of his impressive all-round ability, yielding 4 wickets for 144 runs in a 66 over stint. As England began their chase for the victory it became clear that Bangladesh hadn't put enough points on the board to prevent their opponents taking the game, which they were able to. However Nadir Shah's questionable decision to call run-out against Jonathan Trott was a set-back for England, at the time on 42-1. Trott was said to be livid with the decision of third umpire Shah, as the replays were very much inconclusive, and the decision has subsequently been derided by numerous commentators. Nevertheless England pressed on with their task, and were rewarded with a superb display from Cook in particular, but Pietersen as well, the two putting on an unbroken stand of 167 to ultimately clinch victory. The former managed his twelfth test century reaching a total of 109, whilst Pietersen made 74 allowing England to achieve their target of 209 runs with ten overs remaining. Following the victory England coach Andy Flower praised Cook's leadership with the words, "He's been superb, really good as a leader. He feels more comfortable in the role now, so the opportunity we had to expose him to a bit of leadership was a valuable one to take and in the long run it will be a very good thing to him, and hopefully for England." Cook has said that he will "happily" hand the leadership reigns back to Andrew Strauss for the series against Bangladesh and Pakistan in the summer, adding "it's such a good learning curve to see where I need to getter better at as a leader." Cook also found time to, albeit indirectly, praise the efforts of England's opponents, saying "I think it’s done us the world of good in terms of how hard we’ve had to work for results here." Given the fact that Bangladesh remained competitive until the final two sessions is, in the words of the Telegraph's Derek Pringle, "not bad for a country whose cricket infrastructure is fed by just four bowling machines” and certainly worth taking into account. Whether England can step up a gear when bigger obstacles are placed in front of them remains to be seen, but with Cook maturing as a Captain, his future at least appears bright indeed.