Tourists can expect more short balls: Boult
New Zealand bowlers won’t shy away from intimidating tactic despite first-test injuries
Dun dun. Dun dun. Dun dun, dun dun, dun dun. . . Some time over the next five days, the Bangladeshi batsmen know it will happen. Perhaps they should pop the theme to Jaws on in the background of their minds as they wait for the chin music to lunge up at them from the Hagley Oval pitch.
Like watching re-runs of the film, they know it’s coming, but that’s no guaranteed antidote to a fright.
New Zealand are committed to delivering more short-pitched bowling in the second test, despite Tim Southee sconing captain Mushfiqur Rahim on the base of the skull and an ambulance entering the Basin Reserve during the last test.
Mushfiqur will miss this match because of a separate hairline fracture of the thumb. He has been replaced as skipper by Tamim Iqbal, with Nurul Hasan set to debut as wicketkeeper. Elsewhere, middle order all-rounder Soumya Sarkar comes in for opener Imrul Kayes, who suffered a hamstring strain.
The Black Caps’ short-pitched tactic eked out five of 18 wickets to fall in the first test victory, but Bangladesh had few problems declaring their first innings at 595 for eight. The second innings saw fullpitched pace deliveries and the spin of Mitchell Santner contribute the majority of the damage as a battered Bangladesh could muster only 160.
Black Caps pace bowler Trent Boult said they will persevere with the technique because of the opportunities it presents.
“[Bowling] the short ball is a valuable skill. People have to realise why we are bowling short in the first place — to upset batsmen and get them stuck on the crease, which makes the full ball more effective.
“When you’re about to deliver one, you’re not trying to hurt anyone; it’s to make your other skills more effective. We’ve used the method successfully for a while, so I’m sure there will still be some short-pitched bowling to put pressure on the opposition.”
Boult believed the method ultimately paid dividends.
“It’s intimidating coming out to face a barrage. They played it nicely [in the first innings]. They looked to be aggressive and picked their times to play shots downwind.
“But I don’t think they need to second-guess too much after putting up 595 for 8 on a challenging wicket. They played nicely on a wicket that was supposed to give a lot of seam movement. They hit the bad ball and showed a lot of positivity. They just had a disappointing second innings.”
Boult expected the surface to be similar to that found in the three previous tests at the Christchurch ground.
“There’s generally some grass left on it and the ball seams around [early]. When the conditions are calm, it generally swings with the overhead conditions. The first couple of hours are crucial, with both sides looking to put pressure on each other, then it turns into a nice batting wicket.
“We’ll be trying to pitch the ball up and swing it as best we can [initially]. If we can’t, then we’ll stay in the areas we decide are the most competitive or aggressive.”
Tamim knows short-pitched bowling is as much a part of the game as the cover drive. He would prefer the tourists sharpened their batting techniques because “we just need to apply ourselves better”.
“I can’t complain about it. If we feel a batsman is not comfortable against the short ball, we might use that tactic. It’s fair game. When we come to these parts, we expect these kind of things. They don’t complain too much about the ball spinning [in Bangladesh], so why should we?”