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Despite a 150-run defeat, New Zealand captain Tim Southee lauded Bangladesh bowlers' crucial role in the hosts' historic victory over the Blackcaps in the first Test match on Saturday.
The first encounter of the two-match Test series saw Bangladesh defeat New Zealand at home for the first time. Taijul Islam finished the first Test with his career-best 11/170 in that game. The game ebbed and flowed, with the two teams separated by just seven runs at the end of the first innings. However, a tenacious hundred by newly-appointed skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and a six-wicket haul from Taijul Islam helped the hosts cruise over the visitors. "Disappointed but credit to Bangladesh. They played well. Our bowling group needs to create pressure for longer, batters need to stitch more partnerships, be better for longer. It was a pretty good wicket. There was spin which was expected in this part of the world. We have a couple of days to work on a couple of things for Dhaka, which will be a different surface. Everyone's striving to improve their game and that's what we ask from our guys. Guys need to contribute all the way down, nice that Kyle and Ish did that," Southee said in a post-match presentation. Southee acknowledged the 'pressure' Bangladesh bowlers continually put that was lacking in their own bowling. "I think you look at the way that the Bangladesh bowlers were able to apply pressure for a long period of time. I think we did it in periods, but we probably didn't do it for long enough. And then, as a batting unit, you're always looking at partnerships," Southee said during the post-match press conference. "I think the Bangladesh bowlers bowled well, and were very accurate. And in the way they bowl and the style they bowl, we know that over here in this part of the world, as the Test moves on, it tends to get harder to bat, it tends to take a little bit more turn and a little bit more variable bounce. Looking back, you just need a couple of partnerships, and with the ball, we were probably a little bit off in terms of our ability to build pressure for long periods of time," he added. Although former Test captain Kane Williamson hit a critical century in the first innings, Shanto quickly eclipsed the effort with his own century on day three. Southee attempted to counter-punch with an attacking knock of 34 from 24 balls in the second innings, but succumbed in the final minutes of the contest to a half-tracker from Islam. "I think Shanto's innings was a great innings, and one that obviously a very timely one as well, the situation of the game, so, there's many things you can look back on and as a side, you're just looking to improve and hopefully, learn from this and move forward in a few days time," he said. The second Test between the two sides is scheduled to start on Wednesday in Mirpur. (ANI)
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