KEY POINTS:
New Zealand are not about to drop their guard on next month's Bangladesh tour in the wake of 13 of that country's leading players walking out on contracts to join the Indian Cricket League yesterday.
Already the weakest of the test-playing nations, Bangladesh will have its resources stretched for the three ODI-two test visit by New Zealand.
However captain Daniel Vettori won't dismiss the Bangladeshis.
"The expectations are on us to win and that's fair enough," he said last night. "But Bangladesh can be a tricky country to tour."
He cited the test in which they led Australia for the first four days and almost pulled off one of cricket's greatest upsets two years ago.
Vettori also noted that while senior batsmen Shahriar Nafees, Aftab Ahmed and former captain Habibul Bashar have walked out to be part of the newly-formed Dhaka Warriors in the ICL next month, their bowling attack remains largely intact.
Bowlers like Shahadat Hossain and Mashrafe Mortaza gave New Zealand problems during their tour last December-January, they invariably have a left arm spinner worth watching "and in their conditions they will be difficult".
Vettori pointed out New Zealand has lost players to the ICL and that had given opportunities to players like Tim Southee and Daniel Flynn, who have made significant progress in the last few months.
He hoped authorities would keep encouraging Bangladesh, who have won just one test out of 53 in their eight years on the test roster.
"You look at history and how long it took New Zealand to start to perform consistently, and countries like Sri Lanka. You have to give Bangladesh due respect. I'm not going to sit here and say they're not good enough. They need to be given opportunities to try and progress."
The Bangladesh Cricket Board have criticised the 13 for violating contracts. They have kept an open line in the hope some will change their minds, but have echoed Vettori's remarks on fresh opportunities.
"It's true we will miss their international experience but we have players in the pipeline," BCB cricket operations chairman Gazi Ashraf said yesterday.
"Our door is open for them, but time and tide wait for none in this world."
New Zealand's bowlers gather in Auckland next week for a mini camp, and the batsmen in Christchurch ahead of the tour, which starts on September 30.
Money appeared to be a key factor behind the decision of the Bangladesh players, who were not picked by the official Indian Premier League teams because they were not considered good enough.
