CHITTAGONG — England go into the opening Test against Bangladesh today hoping their depleted pace attack delivers and Kevin Pietersen ends his dismal run with the bat.

The tourists’ bowling resources have dwindled due to injuries since their arrival in Bangladesh. Seamer Ryan Sidebottom has already returned home, while paceman Graham Onions was ruled out of the two-Test series yesterday.

“I’m desperately disappointed for him [Onions],” said Alastair Cook, leading England for the first time in Tests.

“He was a huge part of our plans. But these things happen, and luckily we’ve got the depth in our seam-bowling unit to be able to cope with it.”

Key fast bowler Stuart Broad is racing against time to be fit for the match after suffering a back spasm during the recent one-day series, won 3-0 by the tourists.

“It’s definitely not an ideal situation. The back spasm could come back very quickly,” said Cook.

“He [Broad] bowled nine overs yesterday and two heavy spells today, so we’ll see how he is tomorrow. That’s another selection issue we’ll have to play by ear and see how it goes.”

The visitors, already without regular captain Andrew Strauss (rested) and fast bowler James Anderson (injured), will look to their second-choice attack to maintain their unbeaten Test record against Bangladesh.

England have won all of their four Tests against Bangladesh.

Off-spinner James Tredwell and seamer Steven Finn are likely to make their Test debuts after impressive performances in a recent drawn practice match.

England’s biggest worry is the form of star batsman Pietersen, who made only 41 in three one-dayers against the hosts and 22 in two innings of the practice match.

“I hope he keeps failing because it’ll be one less batsman to worry about,” said Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons.

“He is a great player. At some point in the next four innings he’ll have a performance, but hopefully it won’t hurt us.”

Bangladesh will pin hopes on slow bowlers to trap England’s batsmen on a pitch likely to help spinners, with Shakib Al Hasan, Abdur Razzak and Mohammad Mahmudullah expected to play big roles.

“We all know spin is important in the sub-continent. Spin is a huge issue and the England side, over the last three or four years has made a huge effort to improve on that,” said Cook.

“The way we dealt with spin in one-dayers was excellent and hopefully we can continue like that for the next two weeks. Their spinners will be a huge threat, and for us to take them lightly would be a cardinal sin.

“For me, it’s a huge challenge as captain. We have come here to win both the series and have done the first job very well. We now … want to win these Tests.”