New Zealand’s South African born left-arm seamer Neil Wagner’s maiden five-wicket haul in the first innings denied Bangladesh from posting a big score as the hosts were all out within an hour of the morning session at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
Wagner picked two wickets on the first day and claimed three more to complete his five-for yesterday. He was very pleased with his own performance and said, “It feels pretty good. I got quite a bit of confidence out of that.”
The match is been played on a newly laid pitch and it turned out to be a slow track, which is probably an advantage for the home side as New Zealand have got some fiery pacers. However, Wagner revealed that he likes to bowl on this sort of tracks adding that, “It is tough work. You have to keep running in, keep fighting and play as hard as you can. It is pretty slow, but I enjoy bowling in wicket like that.
“You have to keep trying and also make sure you don’t leak too much runs. Fairly pleased, the bowler bowled well. Dougie (Doug Bracewell) and Trent (Boult) started off well. They created the pressure for me to take the wickets. Ish (Sodhi) bowled very well too. We are bowling well in partnerships. It helped me and made my job easier,” said the 27-year-old whose previous best figures were 4 for 42.
Despite the turns, the wicket also offered some decent bounce for the seamers. “On a wicket like this, guys tend to get on the front foot a lot more. You have to vary pace and length. It is something you have to play around with, and intimidate the batsmen a little bit. It is not easy to get it up there, especially with the ball getting softer. But it is definitely a delivery you have to try and work hard on. Bowl couple of short balls to make them think about something else. They are trying to do it against us as well,” said Wagner.
Wagner informed his team will look forward to establish the innings and score big. With some batsmen yet to bat and able to build partnership the Kiwis will be on toes to execute the plan on the third day said the quickie.
