‘A’ team lose four-day series to New Zealand

Bangladesh 'A' team suffered a 1-0 series defeat to their New Zealand counterparts in the two-match four-day series after the second unofficial Test ended in a draw at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday.

Both teams agreed on a stalemate after the hosts reached 87 for two in their second innings with Zakir Hasan and Amite Hasan remaining not out on 24 and 21 runs respectively.

Earlier, resuming on an overnight score of 277 for four, New Zealand 'A' finished on 379 all out in reply to Bangladesh 'A' team's first innings score of 357, securing a 22-run lead.

Although the hosts had the more experienced squad, it hardly reflected on the field during the series as the opposition looked better equipped to handle the ebbs and flows of the longer format.

"Cricket isn't played on pen and paper. I think experience and how you react on the field is important. Obviously, New Zealand were a good side and they had many international players," skipper Nurul Hasan Sohan told reporters after the match.

Sohan also claimed that they played badly in only one session in the first game in Sylhet which led to them conceding a 70-run defeat.

"We played well in the ODI series. In Sylhet, we dominated in 8-9 out of the 12 sessions. We played badly in one session and that's why we lost the game. Otherwise, the result could have been different," he said, adding that they were more concerned about the team's performance rather than individual performance in the series.

"When I was named the 'A' team skipper, coach Babul sir and I had a meeting with the players. In the meeting, we talked about the cultural change in the 'A' team in terms of setting personal targets. Whatever team you represent in the Bangladesh jersey, I always feel that it's a team game and you can't have a personal target… In our dressing room, there was no discussion about personal achievements."

Earlier on the day, overnight unbeaten batter Nick Kelly, who resumed on 83, brought up his 11th first-class ton, making 103 off 167 balls, while other unbeaten batter Matt Boyle made 58. But rest of the New Zealand 'A' batters couldn't make significant contributions, which kept them from taking a big lead in the first innings.

For Bangladesh 'A', off-spinner Nayeem Hasan was the pick of the bowlers as he claimed four wickets for 102 runs while pacer Khaled Ahmed also took three wickets.

Bangladesh 'A' earlier won the preceding three-match one-day series 2-1.