There have been many low moments in the history of England cricket.
There have been whitewashes and thrashings, numerous defeats to Associate nations, World Cup campaigns so brief that England were home before the theme tune was released and a memorable day when they were bowled out by a chicken farmer. Thomas Hardy probably wasn't thinking of English cricket lovers when he wrote that "happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain" but it sort of feels like he should have been.
To the lexicon of grim days in English cricketing history - a hefty tome, it has to be said, that in recent years includes Jamaica (2009), Lord's (against Holland in 2009), Bangalore (against Ireland in 2011), the UAE (against Pakistan in 2012), Chittagong (against Holland again in 2014) and just about every ground in Australia, the name Dhaka must now be added.
England didn't just lose to Bangladesh. They lost 10 wickets in a session to lose to Bangladesh in a museum-quality display of poor batting that should be hidden from the sick, the elderly, the pregnant or those with heart conditions. It was a Halloween horror so gruesome that Quentin Tarantino would censor it for being gratuitously grim.
The basic facts are these: only Zimbabwe and a vastly under-strength West Indies side led by Floyd Reifer had previously lost a Test to Bangladesh. England had won all nine previous Tests between the sides and, in their 95 Test history, it was only the 10th time Bangladesh have claimed all 20 wickets in a Test.
For a while on Sunday, it was as if England were providing a Greatest Hits compilation of their failings through the years. There was the comical fielding, the impotent bowling, the bewildering field placings and, most of all, the dramatic batting collapse. Every facet of their play fell below the required standard. Yes, Bangladesh were good, but England were unusually poor.
Perhaps the most damning aspect of this defeat from an English perspective is that it was hard to deny the painful truth that the better team won. Throughout the series, England had been rescued by outstanding individual performances that masked the general failings of the team. Ben Stokes played that role in Chittagong but England ask too much of him. If he isn't provided with more support, he'll be burned out and broken long before his time.
"It is hard not to fear for England in India where they will encounter similar conditions and tougher opponents."
It will not do to throw our hands up in despair and say: 'Ahh, but the conditions are alien.' Yes, it is hard to win in Asia. And yes, Australia have lost nine Tests in a row on the continent (including the UAE).
But it was not the conditions that caused Ben Duckett to drop a simple catch at midwicket; it was not the conditions that saw England's spinners unable to maintain a decent line and length or even hit the cut strip at times; it was not the conditions that saw England's bowlers - seamers and spinners - bowl short and wide in a horrible display in the first session of the match. And, while the conditions undoubtedly played a role in England's second-innings batting collapse, you wonder what else they expected when they embarked on a tour to Asia.
Bangladesh utilised home advantage just as England do when they host home Tests in May. Bangladesh utilised home advantage just as England did when they bowled Australia out at Edgbaston and Trent Bridge in 2015. They would have been foolish to do anything else and England, as one of the best resourced cricket boards in the world, have every advantage extended to them in terms of arranging age-group and Lions tours. It demeans both sides to make excuses for them.
There are, as ever, some mitigating factors. The most notable is that Bangladesh are, in these conditions, a decent side. Some of their top-order batting - notably Imrul Kayes and Tamim Iqbal - has been excellent, while in Sabbir Rahman they have a gem of a player who, like Stokes, will relish the heat of battle and raise his game accordingly. He is going to bother England, and many other nations, for years to come.
Most of all, Bangladesh have a spin attack who harnessed the helpful conditions very well. It is hard to think of a spinner who has made such an immediate impact on world cricket as Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who took 19 wickets in the series. With his consistency and a pace that is unforgiving of batsmen, he offered a great example to England's spinners.
But he is a conventional off-spinner. He offers no mystery or doosra. He is no quicker than Moeen and does not have the variations of Ravi Ashwin, who must be salivating in anticipation of what awaits him. It is unthinkable that Mehedi could have enjoyed such success against the likes of Pakistan.
Shouldn't it take a little more than that to unlock a Test team? Wasn't there a time, a time before Championship cricket was pushed into the margins of the county season, a time before counties prepared slow seamers for the benefit of their medium-pacers, a time before spinners had to prioritise their white ball skills to consider a long-term career in the game, that such skills were relatively commonplace?
When English batsmen didn't play off-spin as if they had never seen it before. When batsmen didn't have to try to hit themselves out of trouble because they trusted their defences. None of this is meant to diminish the achievements of Mehedi who is clearly a fine bowler. But England made him look a genius.
Of course, from a global perspective, this result can be celebrated. Of course, from a global perspective, this was a good day for Test cricket. The fervour among Bangladeshi people for the sport is obvious and, as victory approached, every rooftop around the ground was filled with supporters. With just a little encouragement, Bangladesh could develop into a fine Test side and we might one day look back on this result as the platform for their development.
But world cricket doesn't just need a strong Bangladesh, or Pakistan or West Indies. It needs a strong England, too. And, as we look ahead to the next few weeks, it is hard not to fear for them in India where they will encounter similar conditions and tougher opponents. A five-Test encounter seems daunting and, perhaps, unwisely long. Perhaps they will prove such pessimism wrong, but a one-sided series does nothing for Test cricket's future.
They still have a chance. Their ability to gain reverse swing is a serious asset and the depth of their batting and bowling attack is unusual. If they can improve their top-order batting and the consistency of their spin bowling, they can certainly challenge. But it speaks volumes about how they are trusting to chance that their batting reinforcements are a teenager (Haseeb Hameed) who has never played Test cricket and a man (Jos Buttler) with 42 first-class runs in the year since he was dropped from the Test team. It is a fearsome mess.
At least this was an entertaining, well-contested series. And England deserve credit for coming. There is no embarrassment in losing to Bangladesh, but there is concern at the manner of defeat. There is plenty of that.