WITH the Australian squad due to touch down on English soil in the early hours of Sunday morning, Michael Vaughan has urged his England team-mates to send out an Ashes warning by comprehensively disposing of Bangladesh this weekend.
And, while Durham officials are desperately hoping for a more competitive game than last week's mismatch at Lord's, the England skipper will be delighted if his side can wrap up victory inside just two days.
Bangladesh's senior status was called into question after England romped to an innings-and-261-run-win in the first Test and, with the Riverside wicket expected to offer considerable help to the home side's pace attack, things could be even more one-sided this weekend.
While Durham cricket chiefs are delighted with the number of tickets they have sold for the first two days' play, the hosts stand to miss out financially if Sunday turns into something of a dead rubber.
But, while Vaughan is taking nothing for granted ahead of this morning's opening session, he will be demanding his team-mates show the same ruthlessness they displayed at Lord's last weekend.
"I hope people don't see a good day of cricket on the Sunday because that'll mean we'll have won inside two days," said the skipper, who showed no mercy himself on the way to an eye-catching century in the first Test.
"If people come along and get a good day that's fantastic. But I'm sure that if we play well on Friday and Saturday and put them under pressure, we can go a long way towards winning the game then.
"We'll be setting out with the same intensity of play. We want to put them under pressure straight away and make we sure we capitalise on the situation. We want to do exactly what we did at Lord's."
England ran riot last weekend as a combination of pace and persistence drew a succession of rash strokes from the inexperienced Bangladeshi batsmen.
The tourists' top order were clearly uncomfortable with the sideways movement on offer to the English attack, while their bowlers were unable to make the most of their opportunities with the new ball.
The Riverside wicket promises to be every bit as daunting and, after Zimbabwe were skittled for just 94 in their first innings during the ground's inaugural Test two years ago, there is every chance of a similarly scant score if Bangladesh are put into bat this morning.
"It could be even more uncomfortable for the Bangladesh batsmen here," admitted Vaughan. "The Riverside has a reputation for doing a bit with the new ball in the first 30 overs.
"It's difficult for them. They're very inexperienced in these conditions because they're not used to the ball swinging around.
"They're used to much slower wickets at Dhaka and Chittagong where they can go forward quite regularly.
"Our bowlers are pretty quick so it's a learning curve for their team and a learning curve for all of their players in conditions they haven't really played in before."
While England's bowling attack eventually proved far too powerful at Lord's, the home side were criticised for a profligate opening spell in which they struggled to make the most of conditions that were stacked heavily in their favour.
The wayward opening ultimately counted for little when Bangladesh were dismissed for just 108 first time around but, with the Ashes looming large, England can hardly afford to make a habit of such tardy beginnings.
"I thought the pitch at Lord's did more in the first morning than I've seen for a while," said Vaughan. "But, in the first ten overs, we didn't quite hit our straps.
"If we find ourselves in that situation again, I expect us to hit our straps a little bit sooner and put them under pressure straight away.
"We realise that, later on in the summer, we are going to have to hit our straps right from ball one. We've got to make sure we get into good habits now rather than later.
"We need to be doing now what we're hoping to do later this summer. If we don't do that, and we're not quite hitting our straps against the better teams, we could find ourselves out of the game pretty quick."
Unsurprisingly, England have named an unchanged team for their second game of the summer, with off-spinner Gareth Batty retaining his place in the side at the expense of Gloucestershire's Jon Lewis.
England's complete dominance meant that Batty got neither a bat nor a ball at Lord's but, despite the injury doubts hanging over first-choice spinner Ashley Giles, Vaughan will not be giving the Worcestershire man preferential treatment.
"We'll give him a bowl if we feel we need to," he said. "But, if we produce the same performance that we did at Lord's and he doesn't bat and he doesn't bowl, I'll be quite happy with that as well.
"If the game goes longer and we need him to bowl, we'll give him a bowl. If we're winning well and we're declaring three or four down so he doesn't get a bat, so be it."
One player who is guaranteed a bowl, though, is Andrew Flintoff. The Lancashire all-rounder is still feeling his way back to full fitness following an ankle operation and England coach Duncan Fletcher is determined to push him further in the next two or three days.
"He's available to bowl more overs this weekend," confirmed Vaughan. "We were always aiming for about 12 or 14 overs before the game at Lord's, but the medical team have told me that can be upped to about 20 for this game.
"We'd like to see him get a few more overs under his belt and, if he does, that'll be another huge positive for the team."
* Around 200 tickets will be available on the day for both today and tomorrow's play. The walk-up tickets will be sold from gate number five, priced from £20 for adults and £5 for under-16s.
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