Fourth ODI against New Zealand today
Bangla-desh face an intriguing prospect of winning their first series against a serious opponents when they take on New Zealand in the fourth one-day international at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Thursday.
Apart from an under-strength West Indies and lowly Zimbabwe, the Tigers have never won a series against a Test-playing side, but that history can be changed should they win the game today.
After winning the first two ODIs separated by the rained-off second game, they are already assured of a draw in the series, but the Tigers, who are brimming with confidence, will hardly be contented with it.
New Zealand are under huge pressure, hitting the lowest point in their cricket history having been totally outplayed by Bangladesh in the previous game and the home side are out to capitalise on it.
‘They will be much better prepared tomorrow [Thursday] but there confidence level will be a bit low and ours will be high, so hopefully we can start off well and put them under the pump again,’ hoped coach Jamie Siddons.
‘The boys are confident of beating them again. We just have to go out there and play well, play to the best of our ability,’ Siddons said.
Bangladesh had a complete practice session on Wednesday after a day off and Siddons said they are fully prepared for the potential series decider.
‘The preparation is really good,’ said Siddons. ‘We had a day off yesterday [Tuesday], no one came for a hit as it’s been hot and pretty hard two games in a row.’
‘We are looking forward to tomorrow’s game and the boys are looking confident. They are playing good cricket and hopefully we can go again and play another good match,’ he said.
Bangladesh are planning to field a unchanged squad for the game, though Siddons was still worried about the fitness of some fast bowlers. Shafiul Islam returned from injury in the
previous game, but could not bowl more than five overs. As a consequence, the spinners had to shoulder the responsibility in New Zealand’s batting powerplay, which was not planned.
Ross Taylor, along with tail-ender Kyle Mills unleashed some powerful strokes to take 55 runs in five overs, threatening to take the game away from the grip of the home side.
‘I really don’t like spin bowlers in the powerplay, that’s a fast bowlers’ job. But Suhash [Shafiul] got a cramp and that made it difficult for Sakib. We cannot afford to do it,’ said Siddons.
The coach was also unhappy with the batting of Roqibul Hassan and Junaed Siddique, who took 10 overs to score 25 runs despite knowing that victory was all but assured.
Roqibul was unbeaten on 18 off 53 balls, which was the ugliest part of Bangladesh innings in an otherwise happy day.
‘Couple of players are coming in and not scoring quick enough. They have got to improve that and their strike rate is not good enough. We need to improve that,’ said Siddons.
