When Courtney Walsh arrived in Bangladesh last month to begin his job as the national team’s bowling coach he said his aim was to find the new Curtly Ambrose.

The ambition has probably dropped a notch or two since then as the enormity of his task has hit home in a country where no fast bowler has taken more than 51 Test wickets on home pitches in 16 years of trying.

It is going to be a slow progress for Walsh as proved when Bangladesh named only two seamers in their 14 man squad for tomorrow’s first Test against England. Walsh has to build on the groundwork laid by his predecessor, Zimbabwean Heath Streak, in a country where fast bowlers have been second class citizens in Bangladesh cricket, neglected by groundsmen who produce flat pitches. Every kid grows up wanting to be Tamim Iqbal, the Chittagong batsman who is Bangladesh’s run scorer and adorns advertising boards across the country, or Shakib al Hasan, the premier allrounder.

There are four seamers in Bangladesh’s top ten Test wicket takers and the bowling averages of Mashrafe Mortaza (41.52), Shahadat Hossain (51.81), Tapash Baisya (59.36) and Rubel Hossain (75.90) underline the challenge Walsh faces.