In the end England's eight-wicket victory came with ease on the final afternoon at Lord's as they comfortably chased down 160 following Steven Finn's first five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
Andrew Strauss guided the pursuit with a confident 82 after the visitors' last five wickets fell for 35 under cloudy skies against Finn and Tim Bresnan, yet they have done much to enhance their standing over the last five days.
With the ball new and the morning overcast the odds were always against Bangladesh delaying England long enough to put the result in serious doubt. It took ten overs to make the breakthrough but they then chipped away regularly to wrap up the innings on the stroke of lunch. Strauss and Alastair Cook were gifted a 60-run start by some woeful bowling and negative fielding settings. The only tension was to see whether the win would come before tea. Despite Kevin Pietersen playing out a maiden from Shakib Al Hasan some scurrying from the umpires ensured it did.
However, without Finn England would have had serious problems dismissing Bangladesh twice in this match. The 21-year-old has led the bowling effort in both innings, impressing with his maturity, accuracy and stamina. Strauss gave him an eight-over spell on the final morning and he responded with three further wickets to earn a place on the honours board in his first Test on his home ground.
Junaid Siddique and Shakib fought hard to survive and, as often happens when pressure builds, it was one of worst deliveries that made the breakthrough when Shakib cut a wide ball straight to Eoin Morgan at point. Siddique had again resisted stubbornly while England tried to pepper him with the short ball and the tactic could well have played a part in his demise as he tried to drive with his feet planted in the crease and popped a catch to mid off.
That gave Finn his fourth and this time he wasn't going to be denied a place on the board when he produced a beauty that climbed and took Mushfiqur Rahim's outside edge. However, he couldn't quite claim the scalp that would have made him the first since Ian Botham in 1978 to claim a 10-wicket match haul at Lord's.
James Anderson endured a frustrating morning as his rhythm continued to improve but was unable to add to his collection. He produced a testing nine-over burst and regularly beat the outside edge, but the closest he came to a breakthrough was when Bresnan spilled a tough chance at third slip off Mahmudullah.
Mahmudullah, who is batting far too low even taking into account the nightwatchman, continued the defiance shown by many of his team-mates. He and Rubel Hossain resisted for 10 overs until Bresnan found Rubel's edge as the No. 10 tried to leave the ball. It's been a difficult match for Bresnan, and he came in for some guarded criticism from Andy Flower on the fourth evening, but he closed the innings when Mahmudullah had a wild heave in the last over before lunch and ended with 3 for 93.
While Bangladesh's batting is making huge strides, there progress will be held back by the weak pace bowling. Shahadat Hossain's opening over went for 11 as he sprayed the ball wide at Strauss, while Rubel and Robiul were given an over apiece before spin came on from both ends.
Mahmudullah removed Cook as the left hander was given out lbw on the front foot and replays showed the ball would have gone over the stumps for the second time in the game. Strauss, though, eased to his second fifty of the match from 50 balls - nothing more than a gentle net for the captain - while Jonathan Trott eked along at his own sedate pace before Strauss was caught behind cutting with 13 needed.
The final result was as expected, yet Bangladesh can take great heart from the way they took the game five days and made England dig deep. Strauss and Flower will expect their side to be far more commanding in the second, at Old Trafford, on Friday but the visitors will have ambitions to make a mark of their own.
