Tigers' drop zone

There is a saying in cricket to the effect that if you miss a catch, you lose the match and for Bangladesh, dropped catches have proved to be very costly in the ongoing Test series against New Zealand.

Players and coaches often say that It is hard to improve batting and bowling techniques overnight but fielding is an aspect that a cricketer can improve quickly, if he wants to.

Nothing is going right for Bangladesh since they arrived in New Zealand, be it with the bat or ball, but whenever opportunities were created by the bowlers, the fielders let their teammates down, with the result being a heavy price for the team.

Pacer Abu Jayed, who removed both in-form Kiwi openers Tom Latham and Jeet Raval on the third day to give a good start with the ball, once again tested the two overnight batsmen Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson at the beginning of the fourth day.

It was in the third over of the day that Jayed eventually managed to create the opportunity to remove Ross Taylor not once but twice when he was batting on 20.

First, it was off the very first ball of the 15th over when Taylor played an uppish drive against Jayed to the left of skipper Mahmudullah Riyad at short extra cover but the experienced cricketer could not hold onto a regulation catch and dropped a sitter.

Just a ball later Jayed once again managed to undo Taylor as the right-hander edged towards second slip, where Shadman Islam got both hands to the ball diving towards his left but eventually missed a rather difficult chance.

Taylor went on to smash his third double hundred yesterday and will surely thank the Bangladesh fielders as New Zealand took control over the game since those missed chances.

It was Taylor who accelerated the run flow as New Zealand went on to declare their first innings on 432 for six in 84.5 overs to take the first innings lead of 221 runs and eye a win on the final day.

It was not the first time that Bangladesh's fielders paid the price for dropped catches as Tom Latham survived a straightforward catch at second slip to Soumya Sarkar and went on to score 161 in the first Test in Hamilton.

Soumya dropped another catch off Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson on 82, helping the right-hander register his second double hundred in Test cricket as New Zealand posted their highest ever Test total of 715 and eventually won the game.