Sport - Cricket

Tough task for Bangladesh

CHITTAGONG: Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful’s expectations were not sky high ahead of the first Test against New Zealand.

“We will try to play good cricket session by session,” Ashraful said.

“And we hope to keep on batting for at least a couple of days so we can go for a draw... or even a win.”

Bangladesh has never beaten New Zealand in a Test match, has not played a Test in eight months, and has just lost 13 of its players who were banned for a decade by the national association after signing for the Indian Cricket league.

Vettori said New Zealand had played at about 50 per cent of its potential in the ODI series and was anticipating a vast improvement in the Tests.

The teams:

Bangladesh: Mohammad Ashraful (Capt.), Mashrafe Murtaza, Tamim Iqbal, Zunaid Siddiqui, Rajin Saleh, Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Mehrab Hossain and Nayeem Islam.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (Capt.), Daniel Flynn, Jamie How, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Aaron Redmond, Iain O’Brien and Ross Taylor. — AP

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