Black Caps due for a win
If New Zealand’s consistently inconsistent test performances are a guide, expect a bounce-back victory in Mirpur this week.
The Black Caps will meet Bangladesh in the second and final test of the series starting this afternoon (NZ time), needing a win to avoid the unwanted prospect of a first series loss to their current opponents.
While New Zealand’s test selection policy may have remained conservative over recent years, their results have been far from that.
Following their shock loss at home to Bangladesh in January last year, the Black Caps rebounded as expected by hammering the tourists in Christchurch by an innings and 117 runs.
That home dominance continued in the first test the following month against South Africa, when the Hagley Oval home side triumphed by a whopping margin of an innings and 276 runs.
But just when it seemed normal service had been resumed, the Proteas won the second test at the same venue by 198 runs.
Away from home later that year, New Zealand lost all three tests against the new exponents of Bazball in England, despite appearing to be a winning chance in each, and drew two tests that they had looked like grabbing victory from in Pakistan as 2022 shifted into the new year.
A rampant England then hammered the hosts in Mt Maunganui in the first test in February, but just as Brendon McCullum’s charges seemed all-conquering at the end of the two respective first innings at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, New Zealand pulled off one of their most remarkable test wins.
They then almost tripped up in Christchurch before diving home to beat Sri Lanka by two wickets, and demolished them in the next outing by an innings and 58 runs.
So was the 150-run defeat in Sylhet really a massive surprise?
If you’ve lost count at home, that’s seven losses in New Zealand’s last 14 tests, two draws, three wins by an innings and more, and two last-ditch thrilling victories.
Effectively, the Black Caps test side is the new Pakistan – predictable in their unpredictability.
Whether that leads to a change in personnel following the defeat in Sylhet won’t be known until the toss.
Stand-in head coach Luke Ronchi defended the selection policy and the place of batter Henry Nicholls in the XI after his dual failures in the first test, with the clamour for Rachin Ravindra’s return to the test arena becoming deafening.
The selection process could be further darkened by what to expect from the Mirpur wicket.
While left-arm spinner Taijul Islam – who took 10 wickets in the first test – had match figures of 9-148 in the home side’s seven-wicket win over Ireland in April, the slow bowlers weren’t as prominent two months later at the same venue.
Bangladesh destroyed Afghanistan by 546 runs, after scoring 425-4 in their second innings, but it was noteworthy that pace bowlers Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Ebadot Hossain took 14 wickets between them.
The visitors may ponder whether the inclusion of Neil Wagner would give them added penetration and accuracy over a spin-heavy lineup which failed to apply regular pressure in the first test.