A lesson for management too

New Zealand pacer Neil Wagner said his five wickets were the just reward for the hard work he put in, especially bowling short deliveries and putting in a lot of effort into his overs, after getting Bangladesh bowled out cheaply on a decent wicket to bat on on the first day of the Hamilton Test.

A Test specialist, Wagner known for giving it his all when playing for New Zealand, and is regarded one of the best exponents of short deliveries. Bangladesh came to know of his potency with the short stuff during their last tour to the country four years ago. But it seemed the Tigers learned little from their previous experience as many of them fell to short-pitched stuff.

Wagner was happy to fill his kitty of wickets. "Not only against Bangladesh, but I think throughout my Test career this [short ball/bouncer] has been a successful ploy for me," the left-armer said after the day's play. "It is tough doing it, not easy on the body as you have to put ion a lot of effort.  But the credit to the guys, the catching was phenomenal on a big blue sky like that with a bit of wind. It takes some serious catching. Pleasing that it came off today."

Despite getting five wickets for 47 runs, Wagner felt he and the other bowlers had to really work hard for the wickets, not because all the Bangladeshi batsmen played very well, rather due to the fact that the wicket was pretty decent to bat on.

"The wicket played a lot better than we thought it would. There wasn't as much movement, but it shows the quality of the group to assess that and get ourselves back in the game. I thought we did it really well and got the rewards for it," Wagner said.

The 32-year-old Test specialist, however, heaped praise on Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal for his quality knock. "Tamim Iqbal batted extremely well. For him to come on a day when we thought the ball's gonna go around and do a little bit, to hit us off our lengths shows the quality of the player and how well he played," Wagner said.

"[In the latter spells]We tried to get the ball away from him a little bit. He played some glorious shots through the covers and square of the wicket so we knew we had to change our plan and try dot him up. Putting a lot of pressure and getting him off strike. We got our rewards for it," Wagner said of the team's strategy after Tamim had got off to a flying start.

An already unlucky Asia Cup went from bad to worse for Bangladesh as before the most important match, yesterday's virtual semifinal against Pakistan, trump card Shakib Al Hasan was ruled out of the tournament. That meant that Bangladesh, already without Tamim Iqbal because of a left-hand fracture sustained in the first game, were in crisis mode. However, this crisis could have been avoided and that it was not is the equivalent of a man beneath a window watching a falling safe and hoping that gravity will suddenly change its laws.

Shakib's injury to his left little finger, which saw him return to Dhaka yesterday and likely to fly off for either Melbourne or New York for surgery, was sustained in the tri-series final against Sri Lanka at home on January 27. He was ruled out of the subsequent Test and T20I series and was only brought back in March for the crunch Nidahas Trophy game against Sri Lanka in Colombo.

He then played the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in June and starred on the full tour of West Indies with the bat. But upon returning from the tour, Shakib expressed a desire to have the surgery as soon as possible.

"I think it [surgery] should be done because I don't want to play without being fully fit. So, if I think along those lines then having surgery before the Asia Cup is normal. Most probably it will take place before the Asia Cup," said Shakib at the airport on August 9.

However, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan said on that very day that he could not imagine playing the Asia Cup without Shakib, even though new coach Steve Rhodes was also of the opinion that Shakib should go under the knife before the Asia Cup.

"I said it would be better to do it before the Zimbabwe series," Hassan said. "The Asia Cup this time is already tough and it will be a psychological disadvantage if Shakib is not there. We will sit with Shakib and discuss everything soon."

After discussion, Hassan had said it was up to Shakib the BCB boss already having made his preference known perhaps put Shakib in a false position. He still said that he was finding it difficult to bat. And that showed in scores of 0, 17, 32 and 0 in the first four matches of the Asia Cup. Shakib never looked comfortable with bat in hand and the continued exposure of the finger led to him not even being able to grip the bat before the Pakistan match.

"Let's see when I go there -- if things don't look good I might go straight for surgery from there," Shakib said with a chuckle in an interview with The Daily Star on September 5. It does not seem so funny now.

If the BCB had taken the word of a player of Shakib's calibre and allowed him to do what his body needed, then Bangladesh could have planned for the Asia Cup without Shakib. Instead, at the most important juncture of a tournament, they are basically in a state of emergency. It has to be wondered what psychological effect that has had.  

Bangladesh ODI skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Tamim Iqbal were the last two members of the squad to reach the Scenic Hotel in Napier to join the team after a car journey of over six hours from Auckland yesterday.

It was the fear of flying in a small aircraft that compelled Tamim and Mashrafe to take the scenic route southeast from Auckland, where they reached Sunday and made the drive the following day.

The size of the aircraft did not much bother two other members of the side, Rubel Hossain and Mohammad Saifuddin, who reached Christchurch yesterday and changed flights in Wellington before finally arriving in Napier.

The city on New Zealand's eastern coast is currently preparing for the famous annual Art Deco Festival, to be held from February 13 to 17, which has its roots in a massive 7.9 Richter scale earthquake that destroyed most of the commercial heart of Napier on February 3, 1931.

The city was rebuilt in 1930s fashion and by the end of the decade Napier was the newest city carrying, and the Art Deco is held to celebrate the courage the city displayed during those hard times.

It is undoubtedly the best time for the city to host the first match of the three-match ODI series between New Zealand and Bangladesh, but for journalists travelling from Bangladesh it was a hassle to find accommodation, which at the moment is quite expensive.

Back at the Scenic Hotel, where the cricketers spent a rest day yesterday ahead of the first game tomorrow at McLean Park, Mahmudullah Riyad was roaming around the hotel lobby and was the first to welcome Mashrafe and Tamim when they reached yesterday afternoon.

In just a couple of hours, Mashrafe was outside the hotel again to meet his 2003 World Cup teammate, former Bangladesh opener Al Shahriar Rokon, who has been living in Napier for the past few years.

Famous for his love of 'adda' (chatting), Mashrafe immediately engaged Rokon and a few other expatriates in a lively conversation, answering queries from fans who eager to know about his experience of joining politics, Tigers' chances of winning their first ever international game against New Zealand in their own backyard, and many other topics.

When this journalist asked Mahmudullah about the unorthodox bowling action that he employed during warm-up match against New Zealand XI on Sunday, he said with a big smile: "Actually, I try that bowling action jokingly in the nets but that day a few of my teammates asked me to bowl with that action just once in the practice game, and I did it."

Tamim soon joined in the adda and shared his fear of flying in small aircrafts and to make him more uncomfortable, this journalist reminded him that the team would have to change flights in Wellington, which is notoriously windy, for the second ODI in Christchurch.

"I am not going to change flights. that too in Wellington. I would much rather make the journey by road or take a direct flight," Tamim said.

By then Sabbir Rahman, Liton Das, Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar and Shadman Islam returned to the hotel after dinner at a nearby Turkish restaurant in a relaxed mood.

Missing out, of course, was Shakib Al Hasan who was injured just before the crucial tour of New Zealand. It was a big blow for Bangladesh but with the full squad now in New Zealand, and heart of the team in Mashrafe present, the Tigers seems relaxed and confident of taking on the hosts as the preparation for the upcoming ICC World Cup in England truly gets underway.