A graphical view of Bangladesh v New Zealand, 2nd Test Match, Chittagong, played 26-29 October 2004 by Jack Solock

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Scorecard:

Bangladesh v New Zealand

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New Zealand comprehensively defeated Bangladesh by an innings and 101 runs to sweep the short two match series between the teams in Chittagong. New Zealand improved their record for the calendar year to 3 wins, 4 losses, and 1 draw, but now will face Australia in five matches (two in Australia and three at home) and Sri Lanka in two (at home) that are sure to provide a sterner examination. Bangladesh's record for the year fell to 0 wins, 4 losses, 2 draws, and they next face India in two home Tests.

 

 

The game graph shows that New Zealand won the toss and proceeded to beat the daylights out of a hapless Bangladesh attack, batting for over 150 overs to reach 545/6 declared. The innings was highlighted by Captain Stephen Fleming's 202, his second career double century. His first was 274* v Sri Lanka at Colombo in April 2003 (http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/f/46/f46795.html). He thus became only the 3rd New Zealander to score two double centuries. The others were Glenn Turner--259 v West Indies at Georgetown in April 1972 (http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/f/28/f28862.html) & 223* in the same series at Kingston in February 1972 (http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/f/28/f28798.html), and Mathew Sinclair--204* v Pakistan at Christchurch in March 2001 (http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/f/45/f45264.html) & 214 v West Indies at Wellington in December 1999 (http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/f/44/f44399.html). Fleming's 202 gave him 5566 Test runs, passing Martin Crowe's 5444 for the all time New Zealand lead. Crowe scored his runs in 77 matches, while Fleming broke the record playing his 87th, which, incidentally, also broke Richard Hadlee's mark of 86 for most Test matches by a New Zealander. The heart of Fleming's innings was a mammoth 204 run 3rd wicket partnership with Scott Styris, but he also shared a 99 run 4th wicket partnership with Nathan Astle and an 83 run 5th wicket partnership with Hamish Marshall.

 

Bangladesh had no answer to this onslaught in either of their innings. They were not able to bat as long in both their innings as New Zealand did in their single innings. The Tigers' largest partnership in either innings was the 49 run 6th wicket second innings partnership between Rajin Saleh and Khaled Mashud. Just as in the first match of this series, Bangladesh were helpless in the face of the New Zealand spinners, Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman taking 17 wickets. For Vettori, it was a bumper crop of wickets for series figures of:

overs	maidens	 runs	wickets
111.4	  49	 224	  20

as well as three 6 wicket hauls in four innings, and a 12 wicket match haul in the second match.

 

The graph also shows a rare feature, almost never seen in modern Test cricket. Note that each of the three full days of this match contained more than 90 overs, mostly due to the fact that spinners bowled 79% of the overs!

 

So, with another heavy defeat, and defeats by an average of an innings and 100 runs in this series, Bangladesh have now played 32 Test matches with a remote sniff of victory in only one--the third Test v Pakistan at Multan in September 2003 (http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/f/46/f46945.html).

 

 

While all aspects of their game are below Test standard, batting has been the greatest problem for Bangladesh. They do not have a history or tradition of playing the longer version of the game in their domestic cricket, and it shows in their performance at International level. They simply do not know how to build an innings, individually or collectively. The graph shows a comparison of the amount of time batted by overs between Bangladesh and their opponents in Test matches. Scores are irrelevant when a team cannot consistently bat the equivalent of a day in their first innings. Bangladesh, in 32 matches, have batted the equivalent of a day only eleven times. They have batted more overs than their opponents only six times. No team can win matches when they are consistently being out batted like this in their first innings.

 

There is a sliver of good news, however, as the graph also shows. Of the eleven times Bangladesh have batted a day or more in their first innings, seven have come under the tutelage of Dav Whatmore. Of the six times they have batted longer than their opponents, four have come in the Whatmore era. What is troubling is that up until the last three terrible drubbings (by West Indies and New Zealand) there was real improvement being shown in this area. Whether the latest heavy defeats are part of another long term in the doldrums, or a meander in a long stream leading (hopefully) up to mediocrity and eventually to quality, remains to be seen.

 

Sources for this article:
Rabeed Imam and Al-Amin--Bangladesh Daily Star (Dhaka)
Martyn Watterson--New Zealand Press Association via New Zealand Herald (Auckland)
Chandrahas Choudhury--Wisden Cricinfo
Wisden Cricinfo ball by ball commentary and Stats Guru
cricketarchive.com scorecards

 

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Jack Solock)