By Simon Mann BBC Sport in Chittagong

The official view from the England party is that they are expecting another hard five days.

But having ruthlessly ended Bangladesh's resistance in Dhaka, they could be forgiven for thinking that they have paved the way for a more comfortable ride.

Bangladesh were so clinically flattened in Dhaka that it needed Steve Harmison's absence for them to regain some self-belief.

He was the one bowler, who provided Bangladesh with an unusual threat. There are not many 6ft 5in pacemen over here.

Bangladesh do not have a bowler who can take six cheap wickets or a batsman who can score 150

Harmison is the victim of back-to-back Test matches - there is insufficient time for pace-bowlers to overcome niggling injuries.

At least he has until the beginning of December and the Galle Test in Sri Lanka to recover, since he was not selected for the one-day games that follow the Test series.

The absence of Harmison is good news for Richard Johnson and it may be good news for England's beleaguered spin twins, Ashley Giles and Gareth Batty.

Perhaps both will play now.

The other option is the inexperienced Martin Saggers instead of one of the spinners.

Until Harmison's injury, logic demanded three seamers.

Dropping Giles would smack of short-termism

The pitch in Chittagong is a mixture of bare patches and tufts of live grass, which should keep the quicker bowlers interested.

Add to that Bangladesh's demise against pace in Dhaka.

Giles' struggles have been well documented. Suffice to add that it would be a further blow to his already flagging confidence if he were dropped.

England will play two spinners in Sri Lanka come what may so it would be counter-productive in the long run to leave him out. The same goes for Batty.

England should be able to beat Bangladesh whatever combination they choose.

Therefore, batting Chris Read at six and substituting Johnson for Rikki Clarke makes the most sense, even if the England management has so far resisted the idea.

It is perverse that the one man who could solve England's problem will be arriving in Bangladesh on the morning of the match.

Andrew Flintoff will add some excitement to the one-day series here but England will be crossing everything that he stays fit for the greater challenge awaiting in Sri Lanka.

Rafique would beat England's spinners into a composite team

On the evidence of the first Test, Giles and Batty would struggle to get into a composite side from the two teams - and so might Read, Clarke and Mark Butcher.

The two left-armers, Mohamad Rafique and Enamul Haque Jr, all-rounder Mushfiqur Rahman, wicket-keeper Khaled Mahsud and batsman Habibul Bashar all impressed in Dhaka.

Bangladesh, though, do not have a bowler who can take six cheap wickets or a batsman who can score 150.

They can battle and resist but they do not possess a knockout punch.

Their plan will be to take the game the distance. It rained again on Tuesday and the MA Aziz Stadium has no usable floodlights to combat bad light.

No sun and no Harmison gives them their best chance.