Cricket: England begin 117 day tour of Bangladesh and India

England's Jake Ball in action during the second ODI against Bangladesh in Dhaka. Photo / AP

England have lost to Bangladesh by 34 runs overnight in Dhaka in the second ODI of their three-match ODI series, two days after a 21-run win over the same opposition in the opening match of their tour of Bangladesh and India.

With the third match set to take place on Wednesday in Chittagong, one would hope, for the sake of the English side, that more consistency in wins becomes a theme while on tour in the subcontinent, considering their tour of Bangladesh and India is going to last for a whopping 117 days.

Having begun their mammoth tour three days ago, the fourth-ranked test side in world cricket will conclude their tour on February 1 2017, just under three months after their opening win in the Bangladeshi capital.

Although there is a month's break lasting from December 20 to January 15 for Christmas and New Years festivities, there is still a monumental task at hand for England if they are to come away from Bangladesh and India calling the tour a success.

Along with the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh to open the campaign, England are set to follow that up with two matches against the Bangladesh Cricket Board Select XI on Friday and Sunday in Chittagong.

The Bangladeshi leg of the tour is concluded with two test matches set to be held in Chittagong and Dhaka, beginning on the October 20 and 28.

England then take on India for the first time of the tour in a Test match on November 9 in Rajkot, the first of five-Test series finishing on December 20.

Following a month's break, England return for a three-match ODI series to be held in mid-January, before finishing off the marathon tour with a three-match T20 series, beginning on January 26 and drawing to a close on February 1.

To put some perspective on how long of tour England are currently embarking on, 157 of the English Premier League's 380 matches will have taken place, the NRL Nines will be just three days away from kicking off the 2017 rugby league season, while Superbowl week will be in full swing as the 51st edition of the busiest and most exciting day in US sport will be just five days away.

There is minimal rest scheduled for the English following their tour of the subcontinent, with a month-long tour of the West Indies set to follow just weeks after the final T20 match in India.

A tour of this length should prove to be a challenge for the English squad, with the length of time away from home a factor proving to be difficult to deal with from a players perspective.

England's next match of the tour, their final ODI against Bangladesh, takes place on Wednesday in Chittagong, commencing at 9:30pm (NZT).

England tour of Bangladesh and India:

7 October - 1st ODI vs Bangladesh at Dhaka (won by 21 runs)
9 October - 2nd ODI vs Bangladesh at Dhaka (lost by 34 runs)
12 October - 3rd ODI vs Bangladesh at Chittagong
14 October - tour match vs BCB Select XI at Chittagong
16 October - tour match vs BCB Select XI at Chittagong
20-24 October - 1st Test vs Bangladesh at Chittagong
28 October-1 November - 2nd Test vs Bangladesh at Dhaka
9-13 November - 1st Test vs India at Rajkot
17-21 November - 2nd Test vs India at Visakhapatnam
26-30 November - 3rd Test vs India at Chandigarh
8-12 December - 4th Test vs India at Mumbai
16-20 December - 5th Test vs India at Chennai
15 January - 1st ODI vs India at Pune
19 January - 2nd ODI vs India at Cuttack
22 January - 3rd ODI vs India at Kolkata
26 January - 1st T20 vs India at Kanpur
29 January - 2nd T20 vs India at Nagpur
1 February - 3rd T20 vs India at Bangalore