Cricket: Black Caps underrate new boys Bangladesh at their peril

Talk to old All Blacks and ask them about how they motivated themselves for test rugby.

The answers invariably include the word fear - as in the fear of losing, of letting down the black jersey and all it stood for.

It might also do for the New Zealand cricket team as they prepare to host Bangladesh in five matches through February.

There will be all sorts of reasons New Zealand want to dominate Bangladesh across the three forms of the international game, not the least of which will be personal.

Do well here, and the chances of being involved in the high-octane visit by Australia later next month and through March will improve, not to mention getting a spot in the world Twenty20 squad for the Caribbean at the end of April.

But New Zealand spent decades as the new boys of world cricket, and you can bet that back then the Englands and South Africas - the Aussies didn't deign to play New Zealand in a test more than once from 1929-30 until 1973, such was their regard for their nearest neighbours - didn't fancy getting tripped up by the newbies.

So it is with Bangladesh, whose test life began in November 2000.

They are parked at the bottom of the world rankings, alongside Zimbabwe, and New Zealand will figure they should keep things that way next month.

When they first arrived in 2001, they were as green as pea soup, and were soundly beaten in two tests.

Indeed, in eight tests New Zealand have won seven - five by an innings - drawing the most recent, a rain-ruined match at Dhaka in late 2008.

However they had a close shave at Chittagong a week earlier when Bangladesh, inspired by current captain, allrounder Shakib al Hasan, gave them a real fright.

Shakib took seven for 36 to bowl New Zealand out for 245. Once the dust settled, New Zealand needed 317 to win.

Captain Dan Vettori, who took nine wickets in the match, bumped himself up to No 4, ground out a fine 76, with Aaron Redmond making 79, to ensure a three-wicket win.

However, Bangladesh did beat New Zealand in one of the ODIs, a convincing seven-wicket job in Dhaka, with the key hands coming from opener Junaid Siddique (85) and the perennially under-achieving Mohammad Ashraful, with an unbeaten 60 in 56 balls.

The countries have met in all sorts of places round the globe - exotic and otherwise - since first clashing at Sharjah in 1990. They have duelled at Chelmsford, Colombo, Kimberley and North Sound, Antigua.

And it's in that form of the game that the Bangladeshis will most fancy their chances here.

They have some decent batsmen, opener Tamim Iqbal, Shakib, Ashraful and Mahmadullah , who is averaging 113 from his last five ODIs, and hit a gritty unbeaten 96 against India at Dhaka this week, for starters.

Mashrafe Mortaza is far from the worst international new ball bowler around, his 135 ODI wickets from 103 games at 29.8 apiece a pointer to his abilities.

The other point about Bangladesh is that they will arrive no longer the wide-eyed innocents.

They have been round the game long enough to have had some of the more naive edges rubbed off, such as failing to appeal for a run out, as they did on their last visit, when the batsman was some way short of his ground.

Their cricketing education is continuing. One argument put against them is a suggestion they don't feel defeat keenly enough.

That is, they have become used to losses and therefore accept them as part of the game.

The point was, when they start to get angry at being bumped off, particularly in close matches, then their development will have taken a giant step forward.

They have an Australian coach, Jamie Siddons, and the next time that nation takes a test or ODI defeat with a grin and a chuckle will be the first.

While all the talk may be of the Australians, it would be wrong - and insulting - to ignore the Bangladeshis. New Zealand would do so at their peril.

THREE VISITORS TO WATCH

Shakib al Hasan
22, Magura

You might not instantly pair the words "world No 1" and Shakib al Hasan, but you should.

The Bangladeshi allrounder, no matter what else his career holds, will always be able to point to being the first player from his country to head an International Cricket Council ranking table, in his case the allrounder chart last year.

He is also the first Bangladesh player to be named test player of the year in a Wisden publication, in his case Wisden Cricketer Magazine.

At one point, Shakib was No 23 on the test bowlers' list, 44th on the batting chart, No 4 on the ODI bowling ladder, and No 25 on the batting list - in each case the highest-placed Bangladeshi player, in addition to being No 1 one-day allrounder.

When people talk of the future looking bright for Bangladesh, it's players such as Shakib they are thinking of.

He's taken 57 test wickets at 28.92 apiece in 16 matches, but more relevantly, he has 54 in his last 10 at only 24 each, since taking nine to almost guide Bangladesh to victory over New Zealand at Chittagong in 2008.

Shakib is averaging 29 with the bat in tests, but it's the ODI game in which he has made a more significant impact, with four centuries in 79 games at 35.73, and 85 wickets.

The little lefthander from rural Magura in the southwest is a genuine allrounder who didn't play the game until he was 14. He's rapidly making up for lost time.

Shakib was man of the series when Bangladesh beat the West Indies last July, taking eight for 129 in the second test at Grenada and then, chasing 215, reviving the innings from 67 for four, hitting a run-a-ball unbeaten 96 to carry Bangladesh to a four-wicket win.

Shakib isn't short on self-belief. He wasn't fazed at being passed over for ICC awards, and the Indian Premier League.

"Probably people who decide those things don't know me that well. It's their problem, not mine. I work hard at my game to become the best cricketer I can be."

Tamim Iqbal
20, Chittagong

Bangladesh's most promising batsman, Iqbal arrives in prime form, courtesy of his fine 151 against India at Dhaka this week.

Iqbal first caught the eye with a rousing 112 in 71 balls to help Bangladesh under-19 beat England five years ago. His test debut was also University Oval's test debut two years ago.

Iqbal marked the occasion with an impressive double, 53 and 84, during the latter, sharing a Bangladesh first-wicket record of 161 with another debutant, Junaid Siddique.

In 14 tests, Iqbal is averaging 32.38; in seven innings against New Zealand, make that a tick under 38. His last four tests have produced 431 runs at a fraction under 54 apiece, so he's in good nick.

There have been 70 ODIs, with a couple of hundreds spread over three years and 12 Twenty20 internationals.

Iqbal has always been known as a young man in a hurry - witness the BMW in which he hared around the Dhaka streets. But the car is back home in Chittagong and there are encouraging signs that the elegant shotmaker is adding a dose of maturity to his promise.

Shahadat Hossain
23, Dhaka

It's now time for the young quick to turn promise into something more substantial.

When in New Zealand late in 2008, he gave Stephen Fleming a hurry up with some impressive, aggressive bowling at the Basin Reserve.

His debut at Lord's in 2005 was instantly forgettable - 12-0-101-0 as Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan plundered hundreds in an innings win.

His 24 tests have produced 59 wickets at 41.35; he's taken 41 in 43 ODIs at a similar average. So it's fair to say 2010 should be the year when Hossain steps up to become a significant figure for Bangladesh.

Hossain is known as a bowler with a big heart. This is his chance to advance his standing and prove he's the right long-term partner for senior new-ball man, and sometime captain Mashrafe Mortaza.