Tigers to face NZ XI in lone tour match Thursday

Bangladesh will take on New Zealand XI in their lone practice match of the New Zealand tour on Thursday, in what will be their only chance to get in some match practice ahead of a testing series against the Kiwis.

The match will be held at the Lincoln University ground in Christchurch and will start at 4:00 am Bangladesh Time. The Tigers will face a squad of domestic players, as none from New Zealand's ODI and T20I squad for the series have been named for the match.

The Bangladesh team travelled to New Zealand in two groups with the second lot, consisting five players who were part of the Test series against the same opponents at home, joining the squad yesterday afternoon.

Despite getting very little time to get acclimatise with the conditions, team manager Nafees Iqbal assured that the cricketers were ready for the match.

"All the players are fit and fine and are gearing up for the practice game tomorrow [today]. The first group that arrived a couple of days back have undergone two training sessions in Christchurch," Nafees told The Daily Star yesterday.

Najmul Hossain Shanto and his troops will play three ODIs and three T20Is against the Kiwis. The tour will begin with the first ODI on December 17 in Dunedin.