The England cricket team toured Bangladesh at the end of the 2009–10 cricket season, playing three One Day Internationals (ODI) and two Test matches. Regular England captain Andrew Strauss controversially missed the tour to rest for the 2010–11 Ashes series, so the team was led for the first time by Alastair Cook. Bangladesh were captained by all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
England whitewashed Bangladesh in both the Test and ODI series, maintaining their record as the only Test-playing nation not to have been beaten by the Bangladeshis. England gave debuts to five players during the series, including South African-born Craig Kieswetter, which drew criticism over the number of foreign-born players in the England team, particularly from former England captain Michael Vaughan.
Background
In the 12 previous matches between the two sides – four Test matches and eight ODIs – England had a 100% winning record against Bangladesh, the only international team able to boast such a record. The previous year, Bangladesh had claimed their first Test series victory against a senior Test nation, though it came against a West Indies side that was heavily weakened because of an industrial dispute. England came into the tour on the back of a two-and-a-half-month series against South Africa in which they had tied the Test and Twenty20 International series, and secured a 2–1 ODI series win.
Squads
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced in September 2009 that it "[had] to prioritise" and would most likely be sending a weakened squad to tour Bangladesh. The press theorised that possible candidates to be rested included captain Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood, Stuart Broad and James Anderson. When the squad was officially announced in January 2010, only Strauss and Anderson were omitted from the touring squad. The reason given for Anderson's break was to give him opportunity to undergo a specialist review and rehabilitation for a chronic injury to his right knee, to enable him to return to full fitness for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. The decision to rest Strauss was rationalised by national selector Geoff Miller as "the selectors feel it is important that he takes a break ahead of an extremely busy programme of international cricket". This decision was not universally accepted, with former England captains Ian Botham and Michael Atherton among those who spoke out against the move; Botham claimed: "As captain you need to be there with your team ... I think it’s a major mistake."
England called up three uncapped players, naming bowlers Ajmal Shahzad and James Tredwell in both squads, and opening batsman Michael Carberry in the Test squad. Following a string of impressive performances for the England Lions, South African-born wicket-keeper batsman Craig Kieswetter was added to the ODI squad. Kieswetter had only completed his qualification period for England on the day before his first Lions match, and had previously represented South Africa Under-19s. Former England captain Michael Vaughan was unhappy with the inclusion of Kieswetter in the squad, and said that in an ideal world he would like to see "11 complete Englishmen in the team," and complained that he had "a problem, that we have almost got a 'ship-in' system of looking at talent". Injuries to Ryan Sidebottom, Graham Onions and Broad prompted England to call up Steven Finn as cover for the Test series, and Tim Bresnan remained with the squad after originally only being part of the ODI squad.