The match eventually started at 2:30pm at the Bangabandhu National Stadium and by the close the formidable England side had scored 106 for one in 37 overs.

It was a perfect start for Michael Vaughan's men after being put in to bat by President's Eleven captain Hannan Sarker on a slow and low wicket.

The laid-back batting effort by the English opening pair of Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick produced 77 runs before the England captain walked back to the dressing room making 36. Eager to strike form ahead of the two Test series Vaughan struck six boundaries in his 108-minute stay before edging an attempted cut shot off right-arm paceman Anwar Hossain Munir to wicketkeeper Anwar.

That was the only success for the home side on a pitch offering little assistance to the bowlers.

Trescothick ended the day on 49 not out while fellow left-hander Mark Butcher was on 11 when stumps were drawn.

Trescothick, the 28-year-old Somerset opener, hammered five boundaries and an effortless six against slow left-armer Enamul Haque over long-on. He also struck a magnificent cover drive against the same bowler in the final over and raised his bat towards the dressing room thinking he had reached his fifty, but later the official scoreboard found he was one run short of the mark.

"My preparation was pretty good and I thought the opposition bowlers were pretty effective. But I think the pitch was at times rather slow and it did not help them," said Trescothick.

The southpaw was particularly impressed by the response of the crowd.

"The passion is absolutely thriving here. It is amazing when there was a rain delay the crowd stayed here while the players disappeared and that speaks of their love for the game."

But the youthful Bangladesh team could have brought more cheers from the home crowd had the fielders held on to three catches offered by the English openers.

Mushfiqur Rahman, one of the senior members of the team, dropped Trescothick at first slip off Enamul while the left-hander was on 29.

Apart from that missed opportunity Mushfiq bowled his right-arm medium pacers quite effectively in his eight-over spell that cost only 17 runs.

Vaughan also had his share of luck on 23 when wicketkeeper Anwar Hossain dropped a sharp chance off Mushfiq.

"If we had held those catches we could have been happy with our day's work. But apart from those lapses our fielding generally good," said Hannan.

When asked why he chose to field first the national opener said that it was a team decision.

"We were not sure how the wicket would behave and we thought there would be some moisture on the pitch because of the heavy rain over the last few days. Besides, our coach (Richard McInnes) was against batting first," said the right-hander.