Graeme Swann toils in vain for England as Bangladesh go the distance

Fakes are ten a taka in Chittagong. Look to the left and Hugo Boss have supposedly developed a new line in wastebins. To the right, if you believe the sign, you can shop for Ikea furniture and it will take you no more than a few seconds to walk around the store. It should be no surprise therefore that Test matches involving Bangladesh are often derided as fake. It might say on the ICC label that it is a Test, but the quality is dubious. England can wear their victory, but they will not be allowed to wear it with pride. People will be queueing up to tell them that it is not the real thing. Well, perhaps it is the real thing. Not the Ashes, admittedly, but perhaps genuine enough. Anybody glancing at their fake Rolexes through their fake Ray-Bans would have realised around 4.30pm that Bangladesh had taken the opening Test into a fifth day. That is something. They are scrapping for their lives and they deserve some respect for that. England's limited attack will have returned footsore to their hotel, five wickets short of victory. It has taken an entire backroom staff armed with coaching advice, training routines, dietary supplements, massages, rehydration techniques, pills and potions to plan a victory against a country which has only three bowling machines. The batsman who defied them most was probably the Bangladeshi who would have topped a poll of the Man Least Likely to – Junaid Siddique, only 22 in age and Test average, but resisting with great deliberation to remain unbeaten on 68 in four-and-a-quarter hours. Mushfiqur Rahim joined him 20 minutes before tea and remained until the close. The pitch at the ZA Chowdhury Stadium has barely deteriorated. On the subcontinent, perhaps day three is the new day four. Graeme Swann bowled unchanged in a spell of 25-5-56-2 and four left-handers in the top six gave him extra hope, but turn was only slow. England's captain, Alastair Cook, shorn of a second spinner after the omission of James Tredwell, might have given Kevin Pietersen's off-spin more of an airing. He suggested that he might just spring a surprise and it would have given Swann a chance to reassess and rest his spinning finger. It became obvious that England were in for a slog when the new ball brought only little victories. Stuart Broad, who wrapped his head in a cool towel at the end of every over, came close to a strange lbw when he caused Imrul Kayes to duck into a bouncer; Tim Bresnan fancied he might have removed Imrul at leg slip; Tamim Iqbal was fortunate to survive an lbw appeal from Steve Finn. Tamim shares the confidence of his elder brother, Nafis Iqbal, who took a buoyant hundred off England in 2003 and promptly declared that their spinners were "ordinary". But Swann removed him with a perfect off-spinner which turned to hit his off stump. By lunch, Imrul followed to Finn, a debutant used with caution as if he cannot yet handle long spells, and three afternoon wickets moved England towards victory. Bresnan, who was called into the Test squad only when Ryan Sidebottom went home with a thigh injury, has bowled stoutly with the old ball, finding respectable amounts of reverse swing. Aftab Ahmad, a batting flirt, just needed a bit of width to succumb and then Bresnan yorked Mahmudullah. The captain, Shakib Al Hasan, was out third ball, sweeping at a ball from Swann that was too full for the shot. England had rattled off 78 runs in 13.3 overs in the morning before settling for a lead of 513. Ian Bell now has an average of 350 against Bangladesh, with the chance of two further innings. Unadulterated success against the weakest Test nation defines his career. There is a great T-shirt there somewhere. They could knock thousands up for you in Chittagong in no time. And, like Bangladesh's backs-to-the-wall effort in this Test, you would know that they were the real thing.