Duo take the long road
Given a choice between a onehour flight or six-hour drive from Auckland to Napier, nervous Bangladeshi cricketers Mashrafe Mortaza and Tamim Iqbal chose the long road.
Both have been on regular tours of New Zealand, and Tamim even had a stint with the Wellington Firebirds, but it seems the smaller planes on the regional routes still leave them jumpy.
‘‘Only a couple of players. One player we’ve got he’s not particularly happy with the
Maunganui in January, his 14th century in his first ODI in nearly 10 months.
‘‘It happens in cricket; you have good innings, then a wee trough,’’ he said.
‘‘It [back injury] wasn’t ideal timing, the day before a onedayer. You’re bound to get injured at some point but unfortunately for me it’s been quite a lot the last couple of years.’’
With this series the final three ODIs before the Black Caps assemble in England in late May for the World Cup, the most pressing issue is establishing an opening combination.
Colin Munro, fresh off a confidence-booster in the T20 decider against India, was sent back to play for the Aces in smaller planes. You get that in all touring teams, there’s an odd player that doesn’t like the flights,’’ said coach Steve Rhodes, reluctant to directly identify them.
Bangladesh’s Daily Star reported that team captain Mashrafe and Tamim, the last two players to join the tour squad ahead of today’s first ODI, arrived in Napier late on Monday. Both missed the side’s only warmup match, a twowicket defeat to a New Zealand XI in Christchurch on Sunday.
Friday’s elimination final amid his own ODI slump.
Bangladesh arrive as the world No 7, having lost all 10 ODIs against the Black Caps in New Zealand and missing their star allrounder Shakib Al Hasan (broken finger). But they beat New Zealand in their last two ODIs, in Dublin and Cardiff in 2017, and retain the bulk of that side under veteran skipper Mashrafe Mortaza.