At a glance

Where: McLean Park, Napier When: 7pm tonight

TAB odds: Black Caps $1.10, Bangladesh $6.20

– but there were big expectations of the 21-year-old after he’d dispatched domestic bowling lineups over and out of the parks in the white-ball formats in recent months.

Allen should again open the batting with Martin Guptill, who played his 100th T20 in Hamilton, while Milne may get his chance to hurry up a raw Bangladesh batting line-up in his first Twenty20 international in 29 months after Lockie Ferguson got that initial opportunity on Sunday.

The Auckland quick saw his first ball back at international level, since a partial stress fracture in his lumbar spine following the T20 series against the West Indies in November sidelined him, plonked back over his head, but he cleaned up Mohammad Naim with the next ball and finished with 2-25 from four demanding overs.

There could also be a fitness check on skipper Tim Southee, who copped a blow to a finger off his own bowling on Sunday.

New Zealand may have missed a trick in Hamilton however by not playing two specialist spinners. Ish Sodhi starred with four wickets and later said the pitch conditions were ‘‘probably a little bit more similar to Asian conditions’’.

Whether they’ll introduce fellow leggie Todd Astle into the XI today could be a decision made soon before play, with rain forecast for the McLean Park encounter scheduled to start at 7pm.

That’s a key for the Black Caps in T20 cricket as they build towards the World Cup in India in October-November, with warm-up series also scheduled in Bangladesh and Pakistan in September.