Gibson ‘proud’ after better bowling show

Bangladesh had a better outing with the ball on the first day of the first Test of their two-match Test series in Mount Maunganui on Saturday compared to their previous tours, and Bangladesh fast bowling coach Ottis Gibson said that he was proud of the bowlers.

Bangladesh managed to nick five wickets on the first day, and among them, three went to pacers. Shoriful Islam dismissed New Zealand skipper Tom Latham early on, and then Ross Taylor and Ebadot Hossain struck in the final delivery of the day to get rid of Tom Blundell.

In their last tour in 2019, Bangladesh failed to bowl the Blackcaps out once in two matches, where the hosts only batted once in both. Bangladesh pacers could only manage six wickets combined in those two matches.

On Saturday, Bangladesh bowlers did not just ensure that the first day ended with neither side in front, but they put the New Zealand batsmen in constant trouble. In the first eight overs, the hosts could muster up only two runs and lost the wicket of Latham.

Gibson, in a virtual post-match press conference after the match, said he was proud of how the bowlers bowled.

“I am proud at the boys battled today, and the fast bowlers kept coming in. (Mehidy Hasan) Miraz did a great job stopping the game from one end and helping the fast bowlers operate,” he said.

Gibson added, “I think all the fast bowlers bowled well in difficult conditions and alien conditions to them. All fast bowlers toiled quite hard.”

Bangladesh bowlers showed glimpses of good swing bowling, and despite lacking consistency, those were good signs for the team. And Gibson said he was pleased that their work with swinging the ball was paying dividends.

“We are working on swinging the ball a lot, and you will see everybody swinging the ball at some point today. You saw this morning we pitched the ball lot fuller and working on that very hard.

“I am pleased that we have been able to execute that this morning. We could have had more wickets, but we are playing against the world’s best team at their home, and Devon Conway really played well,” he said.