A brutal day for bowlers

Bangladesh bowlers suffered a brutal day on the field in their second Test of the series against New Zealand in Christchurch on Sunday, and Bangladesh fast bowling coach Ottis Gibson said they had to learn from that.

After their historic victory in the first Test, where the pacers came out as heroes, Bangladesh conceded 349 runs on the opening day at Christchurch, picking up only one wicket.

The wicket went to youngster Shoriful Islam, with the other two quick- Taskin Ahmed and Ebadot Hossain staying wicketless. Ebadot, in particular, was expensive as he conceded 114 runs in just 21 overs.

After the day’s play, Gibson said in a press conference that they had to learn from the first day and do better in the coming ones.

“We have to learn from today. We bowled too many four-balls today. Too many balls wide outside the off-stump. When we missed our lengths, we got cut or got too full to be driven. You can’t allow the batters to score down the ground and both sides of the wicket. One of my mantras is you can’t control the scoring if you don’t control the length. We didn’t control the length today to build pressure on them,” he said.

Gibson insisted that it was not a step back and this will be a lesson for them.

“The guys have been going forward. Ebadot is our most experienced seamer with 12 games. Taskin is playing his ninth, Shoriful is playing his third. Look at the inexperience of the bowling attack and see where they got to last week in terms of growth and learning, but again, today is a lesson for them,” he said.

But the Bangladesh fast bowling coach also gave due credit to the Blackcaps batsmen.

“I think they have batted really well. And we could not hit the heights, in terms of discipline, from last week. I think Latham played really well, he left a lot of good balls early in the morning. Then, Conway is in unbelievable form and he went in and made it look very easy,” the Caribbean coach said.

Gibson added, “We saw today the highs and lows of international sports. Last week we were on a high, perhaps the physical and emotional investment we put in last week, we are feeling the effects of that. We did not hit our straps. New Zealand must have been hurting from last week and they came out and showed why they are one of the best teams in the world.”

Bangladesh spin bowling coach Rangana Herath also believes they will come back stronger on the second day.

“To be honest, it was not a good day for us. Tom Latham and Davon Conway batted really well. At the same time, the fast bowlers have given their 100 per cent, the spinners as well. So I’m sure we will come back tomorrow and they will do their best,” the Sri Lankan said.