Daniel Vettori
Mission accomplished? Well ... yes, sort of.
New Zealand cricket captain Dan Vettori is largely a
satisfied man now that his team have wrapped up the one-day
series against Bangladesh.
A comprehensive five-wicket win in Dunedin yesterday left the
hosts 2-0 up heading into the third and final match in
Christchurch on Thursday, the last chance the New Zealanders
will get to refine their game ahead of the arrival of
Australia late this month.
And the prospect of a five-match limited overs series against
Ricky Ponting's men was at the forefront of Vettori's mind as
he cast judgment on his side's performance at University Oval
yesterday.
New Zealand restricted Bangladesh to 183 for eight before
passing their target for the loss of five wickets in 27.3
overs, pushed along at a rapid rate by Ross Taylor's
scintillating 78 off 51 deliveries.
Vettori cut a contented figure after the game, aside from
some unease with the way his side went about their work late
in the Bangladeshi innings when the tourists scored 92 runs
in the last 10 overs after fighting back from a perilous 25
for five and 46 for six.
"It's still about execution. The size of the boundaries (at
University Oval) make it a little more difficult but I think
we missed a little too much," Vettori said.
"If we want to compete against Australia it is an area of our
game we have to make sure is almost perfect otherwise it is
very difficult to stop very good teams."
Bangladesh certainly do not fall into that category although
they deserved praise for at least making a game of it; at one
stage the match seemed likely to be finished before the
scheduled break in innings.
Impressive left-arm quick Andy McKay was short, sharp and
accurate in taking two for 17 off his 10 overs delivered in
two spells, helping undermine Bangladesh's hopes from the
outset as they slid to 25 for five inside 13 overs.
Only a defiant stand of 101 for the seventh wicket between
Mushfiqur Rahim, who made 86 off 107
balls, and Naeem Islam, 43, enabled the tourists to bat out
their overs.
They took their good time to start with but slowly built some
momentum towards the end as seamers Daryl Tuffey and Ian
Butler came in for some late stick.
The partnership between Rahim and Naeem at least took some
sting out of the defeat for Bangladeshi captain Shakib Al
Hasan, who had presided over a 146-run defeat in the opening
match.
But he said his side would not be competitive unless three or
four of his batsmen struck form at the same time.
"We are bowling well with the new ball but we need a lot of
improvement in our batting, and our fielding."
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