Bangladesh in New Zealand Preview
Come 7pm tonight, the Black Caps will waltz onto the field wearing their kit embroided with the KFC logo (Oh, and the silver fern) with pride. Though, there are a few reasons why I feel the 'Deshis have a good chance at taking us out in more than the Twenty20 match.
1. The Injuries
No Shane Bond, who you'd want when you're playing a team that can be unpredictable, considering there's no other 140kmh+ bowler in the New Zealand side. No Kyle Mills, who as recently as October was ranked the no.1 ODI bowler in the world. For me this raises questions about the rankings system but there is no doubt Mills is a handy One Day bowler, with his swing bowling and bag of tricks. No Jesse Ryder. Who is one of the better batsmen in the New Zealand test setup and other formats too. His big hitting and window smashing reputation has taken him to cult figure status, and I won't be surprised if the crowd numbers are down a little. No Grant Elliott. Who is probably the most solid of the New Zealand batsman, and his rock solid accumulation shall be missed in the number 5 spot, to be filled by Neil Broom. Elliott is very much the man for a crisis, steering the New Zealand team to victories on more than one occasion. He's also a quality all-rounder with his nagging medium pacers. You don't average 43.57 with the bat and 22.11 with the ball without being half-decent.
2. The Write-Offs
The country doesn't seem to be giving the Tigers a chance. Even the New Zealand players have 'whitewash' on their minds, evidence provided by Daryl Tuffey. This is going to bite them right on the arse. And the media are unbelievable. The Bangladesh team barely get one minute of attention to address their strengths. I'm not the only one in the country who thinks our sports journos are idiots but it is totally biased. If you take the piss out of cricket, cricket will take the piss out of you Blackcaps. So go out there and play good cricket that you'd expect from a team with so much talent, yet we scarcely see it.
3. The Lack of International Cricket
Whilst Australia have been playing Pakistan in the last month (test status debatable), the New Zealand players have been floundering around in the HRV Cup, the domestic Twenty20 competition. Not to mention Taylor and Vettori playing in the Australian one too. Meanwhile Bangladesh have been preparing against India, arguably the best side in the international game at this very moment. Whilst this is good for getting a look at the talent to play Australia and Bangladesh in the upcoming limited-overs series, it is hardly good as preparation for international cricket. This goes to show, as the good players such as Ross Taylor hit a 50 almost every innings, and ended up with 32 sixes from 11 matches in the tournament. Not to mention the likes of Tillerkeratene Dilshan scoring some runs, along with Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah, and the all-round contributions of Scott Styris, Daniel Vettori, Yasir Arafat and Graham Napier. Honourable mention to the bowlers. At least having a televised domestic tournament gave us all a chance to see what these up-and-comers can do.
But look on the bright side, as in how Peter Ingram is going to go in his maiden international series, along with Andrew McKay. I'll fill you in on these players.
Peter Ingram
It is only in the last couple of seasons that this name has started to be bundled about. Peter Ingram is a hard-hitter, as we found out in the HRV Cup final. One could say he models his game on Virender Sehwag, as he holds the bat high in the backlift, and tries to cream anything and everything to the boundary. Although his mo' brings back glimpses of big Merv. Ingram scored a ton for New Zealand A against a talented England Lions side in a one-day match and hasn't looked back since.
Andrew McKay
He's not a looker, he's a seamer. Andrew McKay is apparently one of the quicker bowlers on the New Zealand domestic circuit (not hard, and I'll believe it when I see the speedgun). The left-armer moved from Auckland to Wellington this season because he couldn't get a game, and the results have proved positive, taking his fair share of wickets in all forms for the Firebirds.
So sit back, open the chilly bin, crack a woody, and enjoy a good (or not so) month of cricket.
