Fleming stunned by Bangladesh defeat by AFP

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Scorecard:	Bangladesh v New Zealand
Event:	ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 6th March 2007

 

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who came here celebrating a whitewash of world champions Australia, admitted the Black Caps had been brought down to earth by Bangladesh.

 

The Asian minnows pulled off the first shock of the World Cup by beating the Kiwis by two wickets in a World Cup warm-up on Tuesday leaving Fleming to carry out an immediate inquest on what went wrong for his highly-touted team.

 

"It was a poor performance," said Fleming who had a miserable day with the bat failing to get of the mark.

 

"Nothing went right. We batted poorly at the beginning (the Kiwis were 34-4 at one stage) and did not assess conditions that well. We knew it was going to be tricky at the start and we fell flat on our faces.

 

"Then we bowled tentatively at the start. We kept clinging on in the field, but we just couldn't shake them. It was a great performance from them, and it gives us some problems going forward."

 

For Bangladesh, so often the whipping boys of international cricket since being granted Test status, it was a morale-boosting win ahead of their first round matches where they will face India, Sri Lanka and Bermuda.

 

"It was a very good win and naturally we are pleased," said skipper Habibul Bashar. "We are moving in the right direction."

 

Pace bowler Mashrafe Mortaza proved to be the hero with bat and ball.

 

After taking 4-44 to limit the Black Caps to 226 all out, he then smashed two successive sixes off the hapless James Franklin to secure victory in the 49th over of an enthralling contest.

 

New Zealand came into the tournament as many peoples' dark horses for the title having swept world champions Australia 3-0 in a recent home series.

 

But they never managed to get to grips with either the clever pace of Mortaza or the left-arm spin of Abdur Razzak.

 

Off-spinner Daniel Vettori took three wickets for the Kiwis as he tried to put a brake on the scoring but Mortaza's big-hitting was to have the final say as Bangladesh celebrated their first ever win over New Zealand.

 

Earlier, New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram, who came into the World Cup nursing a broken ring finger on his left hand, batted through the pain barrier.

 

Oram top-scored with 88 off 107 balls with Brendon McCullum hitting a quickfire 46 off 48 balls.

 

Bangladesh were indebted to the pace-spin attack of Mortaza and Razzak who shared eight wickets between them.

 

Fast-medium Mortaza, who learned his trade under the watchful gaze of West Indies legend Andy Roberts, took 4-44 while Razzak's flighted, left-arm spin earned him figures of 4-26. Fleming admitted he was stunned by Bangladesh's work in the field.

 

"We were always there in the game. We fought back after a poor start and if we had reached 250, we would have won the game," said the skipper.

 

"But they fielded brilliantly, they just kept coming at us. We just couldn't shake them."

 

New Zealand will play another warm up here against Sri Lanka on Friday before switching to St Lucia for their first round Group C matches against England, Kenya and Canada.

 

Bangladesh will face Scotland in another warm-up here on Thursday. They play their Group B games against India, Sri Lanka and Bermuda in Trinidad.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)