KEY POINTS:
Fast forward 10 years and what state will Bangladesh cricket be in?
John Bracewell reckons they could be on a par with most of the test-playing nations, including New Zealand.
As Bangladesh prepare for the first of two tests in Dunedin starting on Friday, the indications are the series is unlikely to require the full 10 days.
The Bangladeshis are well short of New Zealand in all-round skill and experience, as was amply demonstrated during the 3-0 ODI series sweep by the hosts.
But best enjoy the gulf in performance while it lasts, seemed to be the New Zealand coach's message on the newest member of the test fraternity.
"They have the numbers for it, and they have a lot of financial resources to put into it," Bracewell said.
"They've got passion and that's what they do in Bangladesh [play cricket]. We've got more options to take our talent. They have every chance."
The first test at University Oval this week will be Bangladesh's 50th. Their record makes grim reading: 43 defeats, five draws and a solitary win over the basket case of the international game, Zimbabwe, at Chittagong in January 2005.
"I can only comment on what I've seen over the last three years and there's a vast difference from the side we played in Bangladesh [in 2004] till now," Bracewell said.
"They tend to rely on a vital few. Having said that, so do we. They have knocked some good teams over."
Their biggest problem in the first test is likely to be how to handle the seam and, especially, bounce from New Zealand's fast-medium bowlers. They are brought up on pitches which rarely bounce above stump height.
Some of their attempts at the pull or hook shot during the ODI series were scarily bad, moments you'd avert your eyes for fear of seeing real physical damage inflicted.
Only captain Mohammad Ashraful plays the pull with reasonable assurance. So no guesses where much of the focus for New Zealand's attack will be this week.
They made liberal use of the bouncer and short-pitched ball during the second and third ODIs, after Ashraful had given them a flaying at Eden Park on Boxing Day.
"We can survive off the short ball but can't score off it," Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons said.
And this is not the time to be trying to resolve significant technical issues like that, he added.
"It's hard to change things in the middle of a series. They are trying to learn the game at international level.
We need time away. We have two weeks here, then back to a camp for a month until our next series, against South Africa.
"That's the time we'll get stuck into the short stuff, work on the pull shot and add new skills to their game," Siddons said.
The batting should be strengthened by the arrival of veteran Habibul Bashar and opener Shahriar Nafees for the tests.
Bashar, a former captain, averages 32.09 in 47 tests and has hit three hundreds; Nafees' only test hundred in 11 matches was 138 against Australia in 2006, so he's no slouch.
They'll be sorely needed on the evidence of the ODI series.
