"This is an exciting time for us to play the number one team it is a dream come true.

"We will all do well this is our challenge to play well, the team will do well, we are all excited," he said.

Successfully recovering from a bout of toothache the only fitness doubt in the team Al-Shahriar is looking to both individual and team improvement.

"Fully I hope that I and the rest of the team will play better every time we play," he said. "I want the people at home to pray for us that's it."

It was a sentiment shared by captain Khaled Mahmud, who said "definitely we are facing one of the best teams in the world but we are not nervous, rather we are excited to play in Darwin".

There has been considerable commentary in the international cricket media that the forthcoming match will be too one-sided. A former Australian Test player, David Hookes, has claimed tomorrow's game will not last more than a single day.

"We don't think about it too much, we just think about what we want to improve and we want to improve on individual performance," said Mahmud.

"To make it our team effort. That's what we are looking for, we are not talking about what is one-sided or whatever."

Australian captain Steve Waugh agreed, saying that the criticisms were "sledging by the media".

"Bangladeshi players respect us and we respect them.

While Australia announced their team yesterday, Bangladesh were holding their final line up secret until an hour before the first ball.

According to team manager Lt col MA Latif (retd), this was "to keep everyone on their toes and the others guessing."

This is typical of the approach of Dav Whatmore, the enigmatic Bangladeshi coach. He has refused media access to anyone other than captain Mahmudalthough he had allowed brief access by the Daily Star to Al-Shahriar.

"It is another challenge. I think I'm a little bit toey like any Test match," he said adding that he had his 'special goals'.

"It's not to measure the games as wins or losses, we are really trying very hard individually to become better players, collectively if we can do that then we are going to be more competitive," said Whatmore.

And will there be some surprises?

"I hope so. I would never individualise, we need contributions from right across the board.

"That could come from the least likely area."

"We've been lucky in the warm-up games, we've been playing 12 players as agreed with both teams.

"We've had an opportunity to have a good look at the ability to go in with four quicks as opposed to three and maybe a couple of spinners.

"That might not be a bad combination. That decision will be made together with the captain after we have a decent look at the wicket later on in the practice today."

"The area that differentiates between the good sides and the ones that are learning to be good is the ability to make the right decisions, whether you are a bowler or a batsman.

"The Bangladesh team will do very well to improve their performances if they make more correct decisions, so that becomes a bit tough sometimes when it is stressful out there," he said.

But can Bangladesh win? According to Whatmore, nothing is impossible----although he advises caution.

"In a two horse race ... of course you can win, there's no question about that. But that's not the focus and I have been preaching that for the last few weeks," he said.

Mahmud is enjoying the challenge of captaincy, and is eager to take on the Australians.

"If we won the toss I would like us to bat first. But still I think we have one more inspection to go," he said yesterday.

"I think this wicket looks pretty good, I think this will bounce. It's a very good wicket."