(WNAM): A toothless attack will have to sharpen up if the Black Caps wish to avoid a second test defeat by Bangladesh in as many years.
After taking a slim first-innings lead on day three of the opening test, New Zealand spent a long afternoon in the field as the hosts unhurriedly built a 205-run advantage.
Stand-in skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto (104no) led the steady charge and helped a side missing four key players head to stumps last night on 212-3.
Nine wickets fell during each of the first two days on what had appeared a tricky pitch in Sylhet, but yesterday the Black Caps bowlers collected a solitary scalp during 68 arduous overs.
Two run outs boosted the tourists’ cause — both of which owed to Bangladeshi misfortune — and a challenging fourth-innings chased loomed as the lead steadily ticked above 200.
The Black Caps came into this two-test series having won 13 of 17 tests against Bangladesh, three of the last four by an innings. But the outlier in that recent span was a historic eight-wicket triumph for the tourists in Mount Maunganui at the start of 2022, when New Zealand were thoroughly outplayed in their own conditions.
Facing their first test series in Bangladesh for a decade, Tim Southee and the selectors picked a spin-heavy group to suit turning tracks. But frontline tweakers Ajaz Patel and Ish Sodhi threatened only sporadically last night, and the batters’ more subdued approach against Glenn Phillips did exactly that to a fledgling allrounder who surprised with four wickets in the first innings.
Southee and Kyle Jamieson were economic but sparingly used and Bangladesh dictated the tempo throughout. That generally meant gradual accumulation but they counter-attacked well in a key period, as the day went just about according to plan.
