Bangladesh men’s national team batting coach Ashwell Prince expressed disappointment about the unit’s performance in the ongoing second and the final Test of the series against hosts New Zealand at Christchurch. At stumps on day two on Monday, Bangladesh sensing a heavy defeat, trailed by 395 runs after getting all-out on just 126 runs, replying to the Kiwis’ 521/6 d.
Bangladesh had come into the game at the back of a historic eight-wicket win in the first Test of the series. However, the flying Tigers seemed to return back to hard earth in the second Test as their confidence and joy from the win soon evaporated.
World Test champions New Zealand ruled the roost on both days first frustrating the Bangladesh bowlers and then humble the batters. Bangladesh were all-out inside 42nd over and found only two batters – Yasir Ali and Nurul Hasan Sohan – post runs to the board in double figures. The Bangladesh debacle was triggered by failure of the top order as 7, 0, 4, 0 and 8 were the runs scored by the top five batters.
“Of course, we are disappointed [on the top five batters]. It was a massive effort last week [in the first Test]. We played 173 overs against a quality bowling attack. I think it is fair to say that we expected New Zealand to come back with a lot more urgency in this game. If you compare the two games, you can see that it is really difficult to fight your way back, even if you are the No 1 team,” said Prince at the post day press conference of Monday.
“Last week, we managed to get ourselves ahead of the game. In this game so far, they started really well yesterday, continued it this morning. They also started well with the ball. They made it tough for us to get back into the game. We have to live to fight another day,” said the former South African cricketer.
The duo of Yasir and Nurul pulled off a 60-run stand for the sixth wicket to bring some respite in the dressing room before the latter departed scoring 41 off 62 deliveries. Yasir, amid the pressure situation, registered his maiden half century in the format scoring 55 off 95 before falling as the ninth wicket of the Bangladesh innings.
“At tea, we identified the pitch was quite good for batting. There was value for shots off the surface. The outfield was nice. If we could hang in a little bit, we could get a partnership going. The movement happened a bit quicker off the surface today [Monday]. I was comfortable thinking some of the ball would go past the outside edge. It is normal for these conditions. Sohan [Nurul] played positively. Came forward nicely at the bowlers. He got his front foot out of the pitch of the ball. He got his weight over the ball,” said the Bangladesh batting coach.
“Yasir, only playing his third Test, was unlucky caught down the leg-side at the Mount. He applied himself well in that game and today as well. He was solid in defence. He was decisive in attack. I think it is that type of a pitch. You have to leave the ball with confidence. You have to be decisive playing a defensive or an attacking shot. The keyword is decisive with whatever option you will be taking,” Prince added.
In terms of giving tips to his batters before heading to day three of the game, Prince emphasized on the importance of leaving the ball outside the off-stump.
“We learned from the Kiwis that they left a lot more balls outside the off-stump. It comes a little bit more naturally for the NZ batsmen. They play on bouncy surfaces. Our guys play a lot more balls. I thought we left really well and played well off the backfoot at the Mount. I thought we could have left a few more balls today. Hopefully tomorrow we can get off to a good start. I think we can leave a few more balls outside off-stump to make them bowl straighter at us,” said Prince.