KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's three-wicket win over Bangladesh was one of the country's great character wins, coach John Bracewell said last night.
Of New Zealand's 25 test wins overseas, 10 have come on the sub-continent - three each in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, two apiece in India and Pakistan.
Chasing
down 317 to win was New Zealand's second highest fourth innings pursuit and easily the biggest away from home, and Bracewell loudly sang his players' praises.
"Given the position we were in, it's one of the great character wins," he said.
"The way the guys assessed the run chase and applied themselves, the way they changed their technique, which was foreign to them, I couldn't heap enough praise on them."
Bracewell cited the lack of experience in the New Zealand team, and the contribution by batsmen such as Aaron Redmond, Jesse Ryder, on test debut, and Daniel Flynn, all in their first few months in the national side, as reasons for delight.
But there is a fitness worry over allrounder Jacob Oram as New Zealand prepare to wrap up the two-test series, starting in Dhaka on Saturday.
Oram suffered lower back pain in the last hour of Bangladesh's second innings on Monday. He was having a scan last night.
"Whether it's a muscle spasm or bone we'll have to wait and see, so there's no point speculating on it until we find out," Bracewell said.
Bracewell appeared happy enough with the effort by the bowlers but knows captain Dan Vettori is not going to be able to produce his heroics - two half centuries and nine wickets in the match and on the field for all but about five hours of it - at will.
He needs more support and "it's something we're working through, getting experience into the other bowlers, trying to build their skills", he said.
"It's a very young batting lineup and the more we can squeeze into them, the better."
Bracewell said Bangladesh is "as good a place as any to learn" given the amount of cricket New Zealand will play in the subcontinent in the next few seasons, as India's influence on the game grows.
New Zealand's A team tours to India are beneficial and players need to grasp every chance to get their head round the requirements of performing well in a testing environment.
"If we're going to be living in the subcontinent in the next few years, we've got to face the reality of it and learn to adapt and pace ourselves in the right way." Bracewell said the heat had affected the players - some more than others - but was impressed with the professional attitude they had shown in preparing themselves.
He took a neutral line on how the win might affect Bangladesh's spirit. They appeared to have worked themselves into an ideal position to bag what would have been only their second test win in 54 matches, and first against a major nation.
"I'm not sure," he said. "They may have seen it as an opportunity lost, not an opportunity that's going to destroy them. They may say 'we're getting close' and take the optimistic line."
New Zealand have arrived in Dhaka but settling on their team for the second test will wait on Oram's health check and how they read the pitch, which Bangladesh's coach Jamie Siddons has predicted will keep low and play a few tricks.
