Woeful Bangles must find their feet

Max Bania opinion

By tvnz.co.nz's cricket reporter Max Bania

Published: 9:11AM Friday February 05, 2010 Source: ONE Sport

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One hundred and three minutes. That's all it took the Black Caps in Hamilton on Wednesday to burst the Twenty20 bubble that had built up during the compelling HRV Cup competition in January.

And 103 minutes is all Bangladesh needed to confirm that, even on their third trip to our shores, the gulf between them and the established Test-playing nations is still as wide as the Bay of Bengal.

Or as wide as the gap between bat and Daniel Vettori's fizzing spinners; as wide (and high and handsome) as Brendon McCullum's lusty hitting at Seddon Park.

Unfortunately for the visitors (although it may be a good thing), there's little time for reflection ahead of the ODI series that begins in Napier on Friday afternoon.

It's hard to know who faces the tougher task: the administrators who have to promote a tour that already looks like a dead duck - in more ways than one - or the tourists, for whom it will be scant consolation that an improved performance in Napier is virtually a given.

From the moment Tamim Iqbal gloved a well-directed short ball to the keeper, Bangladesh's batsmen turned in a master class in schoolboy batting.

Established team leaders were as guilty as the newcomers of brainless batting: Mohammed Ashraful stepped to leg and thrashed a good-length ball straight to cover; Shakib al Hasan left a gap between bat and pad and dragged a wide ball onto his stumps.

Having capitulated to an undefendable score, they at least owed it to their vocal and colourful band of supporters to save face in the field. Instead they'd dropped the bundle even before McCullum flayed the second ball down the ground for four.

Their bowling was either too short, too full, or too slow; backing up was optional and catching was - well, there wasn't any catching to speak of.

It would be churlish to be overly critical of Bangaldesh given how long it took New Zealand to come up to international standard. But their talent pool is vast and after a decade immersed in the Test arena, their batsmen should have far more sense and application than they displayed in Hamilton.

The mood Black Caps' camp in Napier on Thursday was a mixture of confidence and realism. A win is a better start than a loss for new coach Mark Greatbatch, regardless of the opposition.

And there was a feeling that the highly-disciplined bowling and fielding effort the Black Caps executed in Hamilton would have been good enough to down most international sides.

Tuffey and Daniel Vettori again showed why they're among the best Twenty20 bowlers in the world, while the captain continues to build a middle-overs partnership with fellow tidy spinner Nathan McCullum.

And having established a stranglehold on the match, there was a ruthlessness in the batting that would have pleased the coach no end.

As encouraging as Brendon McCullum's blistering 56 was debutant Peter Ingram making a steady 20 not out. He will take enormous confidence from have contributed to a win in his first international match.

The only real quibble with the Hamilton performance is a selectorial one, and it involves Gareth Hopkins being played as a specialist batsman.

Why Hopkins should patrol the outfield while one of the country's most athletic infielders in McCullum wears the gloves is a mystery. Surely the advantage of McCullum prowling the cover field far outweighs any benefit of his motivational powers behind the stumps.

That aside, the Black Caps main worry in Napier should be complacency. Bangladesh may be off the pace but they won't be as bad again as they were in Hamilton.

Their coach Jamie Siddons stopped short of reiterating his earlier prediction that his side would win the one-day series and the Test, but he has promised a fairer fight.

The concern for New Zealand cricket officials will be that, with rugby's biggest party underway in the capital and a touring team that looks ill-equipped to deal with New Zealand's well-drilled bowling attack, will anyone even be watching?

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