Rhodes eying turnaround against New Zealand
|| CF Correspondent ||
Bangladesh head coach Steve Rhodes said that they are aware New Zealand tour will be a different challenge and they are preparing accordingly.
The condition in New Zealand is known to favour the pace bowlers rather than the batsmen as the wickets are expected to assist the seam bowlers with lot of breeze available in and around the ground.
According to Rhodes they had their reality checked as far as handling the pace ball is concerned in West Indies and would like to believe it will help them to adjust in New Zealand.
‘’When we went to the West Indies, we had some juicy wicket in Antigua and I think what it did do to our batsman, they realize playing overseas is going to be tough and we need to be able to play the short ball well, swinging ball well, nipping ball of the seam and incorporate some back foot play,’’ Rhodes told reporters before leaving for his country to enjoy the Christmas vacation.
‘’So ever since the West Indies, we have been working hard with the boys,’’ he said.
‘’It’s not an overnight thing, I think we are in a better position. One because we are more aware of what's gonna come, and two we have been practicing and working on things to try and make our batting better against the moving ball or the short ball. With the ball, possibly weren't prepared going into West Indies,’’ he added.
Rhodes added that he also had talks with the seam bowlers regarding exploiting the condition in New Zealand.
With the personal, we talked with the seamers, and we have introduced Khaled, in the match against Zimbabwe,’’ said Rhodes.
‘’I think likes of him, hopefully, possibly Taskin or somebody, some tall bowlers, who can hit the wicket, those sort of guys will do a good job there,’’ I think we have got few more, hopefully they stay fit, we will be able to go over there and fire a little bit back at the kiwis,’’ he added.
Bangladesh will start their tour facing the Kiwis in the ODI series first. The three ODIs will be played on February 13, 16 and 20 in Napier, Christchurch and Otago. The three-Test series starting on February 28 in Hamilton. The second and third Tests will start on March 8 and March 16 in Wellington and Christchurch.
