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Kiwis put on a brave face
Sports Reporter
There is an air of uncertainty in the New Zealand camp following a seven-wicket defeat to the Tigers in the first T20I of their five-match series. Despite coming to Bangladesh having simulated slow and turning pitches in Lincoln, the Kiwis were caught off-guard by how difficult it is to actually bat in these conditions. The short turnaround comes almost as sweet relief, not sweating out on details on such trying conditions.
There will be positives for the Kiwis as they take on the Tigers today in the second T20I. Left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel returned the second-most economical figures for a New Zealand player in T20Is in the first game and was able to pressure the Tigers’ batsmen, conceding just seven runs from four overs and bagging a wicket.
And the visitors’ surprise regarding the first T20Is wicket was apparent when Patel spoke to the media yesterday.
“It is nice to finally get out there [on the ground]. Obviously, we have been training for a few days prior to that but you never know what it is going to be like until you get out into the middle,” Patel insisted.
A few meetings took place in the Kiwi camp yesterday as they looked to overcome the jarring sensation of being bowled out for their joint-lowest T20 score in the first T20I. There is a lot of inexperience in the lineup and none of the players in the current outfit are likely to make it to the T20 World Cup in two months’ time. So, the Kiwis took their time to analyse the conditions at play.
“It’s about getting a clear idea of what we experienced yesterday [Wednesday] and what our plans are going forward,” Patel reiterated.
Coach Glenn Pocknall had spoken after the match on Wednesday, saying that the little time before the game was to not only get ready but also to flush some bad memories of their experience. He too identified that the Bangladesh team were an in-form unit and discussed a way of dealing with them in such conditions.
Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls had put on a good partnership of 34 runs and those are the kind of contributions the Kiwis are hoping for. They will be further reinvigorated by the return of batsman Fabian Allen, who returned two negative Covid-19 tests, while Matt Henry is set to join the squad today following his mandatory quarantine.
Pocknall added that 25 more runs would have made the first T20I more interesting, but they were yet to face the full vigor of Mustafizur Rahman’s cutters due to the top-order slump. Thus, the benefit of not having too much time to ponder was obvious with their task probably set to get harder.
“When it’s [fixtures] condensed like this, you don’t have much time to dwell on the past. I guess we’re going to see how we can improve and where we can improve. Looking forward to the game coming up,” Patel concluded.
The wicket of Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium has once again become a topic of discussion as New Zealand were bundled out for their joint-lowest total of 60 runs in the first match. Coaching staff of New Zealand team inspect the pitch on Thursday ahead of the second match, on a day when neither team took part in practice sessions.
photo: FIROZ AHMED
Even though we want it all the time, however, you have to understand why we can’t prepare good quality wickets. The reason being, if you notice, whenever we play during January-February, the wickets stay flat. This is not the case this time around due to the conditions created by continuous rain. We wanted to feature two separate venues but they wanted a single venue instead. It’s hard to hope for sporting tracks when five matches have to be played in the span of ten days. One more point, the wicket remains the same for both teams.
Akram Khan
BCB Director
Photo: Sheikh Nasir
Boat Race is a very popular game in riverine areas of Bangladesh. Villagers of Mogolgaon organised a rural traditional ceremony in the form of a rowing competition, held over Chengerkhal river yesterday. A total of fifteen boats from different parts of Sylhet Division took part in the century-old competition. The winner, runner-up and third place holders each received a horse, a goat and a Television set, respectively.