Things just refuse to get any better for Glamorgan, with defeat at Hampshire making it five out of five losses this season in the County Championship. Not only that, it also seems certain now that Matthew Maynard has played his last game.

That should come as no surprise because I actually predicted as much in these pages last week, but still it does highlight the gravity of the situation in which Glamorgan find themselves.

A lack of runs has been one of the problems and here is a batsman with just under 25,000 first class runs, who might have been playing for most of this season, retiring.

Maynard has certainly landed on his feet though, with full-time employment as Duncan Fletcher's batting coach for the England team beckoning. Apparently he impressed during the winter in his stint with the one day team in Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa and once pneumonia wrecked his season it was always likely that England might come knocking.

At least Glamorgan have decided to go for another overseas player now, but even that has been a short saga.

For a while it seemed that VVS Laxman was going to be the man, but yesterday it was announced that instead Indian captain Sourav Ganguly will come. That is an interesting signing in many ways. He is certainly high-profile but also rather controversial.

He is currently banned from one-day internationals due to India's slow over-rate but perhaps more pertinent is the fact that he was not very popular during his previous time in county cricket with Lancashire.

They christened him Lord Snooty and did not have much to do with him, so it will be intriguing to see how he fits into the Glamorgan dressing-room.

At least his recent poor form for India might go in Glamorgan's favour because he will hopefully be keen to do well and get some runs. And they are what Glamorgan desperately need at the moment.

Were you excited about the prospect of England playing Bangladesh in the first Test of the summer today? Thought not. And I can't really blame you for that either. As mismatches go it's up there with the very best of them in international sport.

The England camp can go on for as long as they like about treating their opponents with respect, but they know damn well that, given fine weather, if the job is not completed in just over three days then there will be something seriously wrong.

I've said it before and will say it again: both Bangladesh and Zimbabwe should not be playing Test cricket. Their presence at the top table is demeaning the very ethos of the game; it is supposed to be the ultimate test after all.

It said it all for me last week when Ian Botham suggested that Andrew Flintoff should carry on playing county cricket in rehabilitating from an ankle operation. That would be more taxing than playing against Bangladesh, he said.

He's probably right but as ever was being a little bit too sensational as he has been when championing the cause of Kevin Pietersen recently. He is actually the director of a management company, who just happen to be looking after Pietersen. A little biased? You bet.

Of course Pietersen has much to commend him. His one-day performances in South Africa were astounding, especially when you consider the pressure he was under in returning to his homeland. But one-day cricket is not Test cricket and England did actually beat South Africa in the Test series. Fitting Pietersen into their batting line-up would not have been easy.

Graham Thorpe must bat at number five because his eyes and feet are not what they were, but he still has quality and a world-class record behind him. And five is where Pietersen, with his leg side preference and big back-and-across movement, would fit in.

That is where he is batting for Hampshire at the moment. I actually think it is wrong because he should bat higher at county level, ideally at number four, but is he going to listen to me? I doubt it. He might do if Duncan Fletcher tells him that though.

England's batsmen might have been struggling in county cricket but expect one or two of them to rattle up a large score in the next couple of days and the bowlers to rip through the visiting batsmen with ease.