Whatmore wary of Australian juggernaut

Dav Whatmore, Bangladesh's coach, has no illusions about the massive task that Bangladesh face when Australia arrive in the country later this week. This is the first time Bangladesh host a Test and one-day series against the No.1 side in the world and Whatmore hopes for a competitive effort from his side.

"The number one-ranked team is playing the number 10-ranked team. That's the reality," Whatmore told BBC Sport. "We'll just be trying to go out there and show we can be competitive. We'll be trying very, very hard - there's no question about that."

Bangladesh will be remembered for their shock upset over a full-strength Australia at Cardiff during last year's NatWest Series. The odds, however, remain firmly stacked for Australia to complete a clean sweep of the two-Test and three one-day international series.

Though they defeated Kenya 4-0 in a one-day series late last month, Bangladesh understand all too well that Australia is a world apart. "Australia are on top of their game," Whatmore said. "They've done very well against South Africa in the Test matches and were very unlucky to lose the one-dayers, extremely unlucky after a score of 400 runs [in the last match]."

Australia go into the first Test at Dhaka on April 9, just five days after they conclude their ongoing series in South Africa.