IF ENGLAND’S fast bowlers were the winners in the Test series in Bangladesh, then their batsmen, who converted just one of nine fifties into a hundred, were undoubtedly the losers. The likely upshot is that for the Test series in Sri Lanka next month the batting will be shored up by the inclusion of two allrounders, Andrew Flintoff and the “find” of the tour, Rikki Clarke.

England got away with fielding a long tail against a weak Bangladesh side, but cannot afford to take the same gamble in the first Test at Galle starting on December 2. There, provided he comes through the intervening one-day matches, Clarke may expect to bat at seven.

When the original Test squad was announced, it was thought that Clarke, whose involvement was expected to be confined to one-day matches, would merely act as a reserve for Flintoff.

But Flintoff’s withdrawal from the Bangladesh Tests gave Clarke a chance he has taken with both hands. An impressive performance in Chittagong, where he scored 82 runs and claimed three wickets, combined with an appetite for runs among a top order so meagre that they could be suspected of observing Ramadan too closely, has changed all that.

Michael Vaughan, the England captain, singled out Clarke as one of the biggest plus points from the series.

“One of the best things was the way lads took their opportunities,” he said. “Rikki Clarke came in for Freddie (Flintoff) and in this game was exceptional. The way he bowled and batted, especially for that little cameo last night, showed the kind of character he is. He just went out and played with confidence and tried to take the game to the opposition.

“He’s by no means the finished article — he’s a few years off — but he’s got one hell of a future if he keeps progressing as he is.

“I could definitely see him and Freddie playing in the same side.”

Clarke’s rise has certainly been meteoric. Only two years ago he was still playing regular club cricket for Guildford, before Ben Hollioake’s untimely death created a vacancy in the Surrey side. But even early last summer he was not a first-team regular. When he did play, he found himself underused as a bowler.

But for an Englishman of 22 he has shown himself to be a fast learner, adjusting well to the low bounce and making good use of a range of slower balls taught him by Adam Hollioake. Nor, whatever the outburst that cost him a fine in Dhaka suggests, is he a hotheaded character.

Duncan Fletcher, meanwhile, mounted a token defence of his batsmen. “Yes, I think we would have liked more hundreds, but you have to appreciate what they are going through,” the England coach said. “There’s a lot of heat out there, and to get a hundred takes a lot of work. Concentration levels have to be good.”

But he marked England’s performance in Chittagong as only 7.5 out of 10: “There were certain periods where the guys didn’t play as well as they could have. There were a couple of sessions where they could have played better.”

One of these would have been the first afternoon, when England collapsed from 126 for no wicket to 134 for four in five overs.