KEY POINTS:
Bangladesh are the current opposition but New Zealand have England on their minds.
Captain Daniel Vettori admitted as much as he surveyed the two and a half days required to beat the Bangladeshis by nine wickets in the first test at University Oval yesterday.
After dismissing Bangladesh for
254 - having been superbly placed at 161 for none - New Zealand needed 35 to win, and got there for the loss of the local man, Craig Cumming, leg before wicket for the second time in the match.
Having thought they'd ease through Bangladesh's second innings without breaking a sweat and getting their comeuppance on Saturday, New Zealand reasserted themselves yesterday.
Debutant openers Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique established a record opening stand for their country, and without looking unduly stressed. But once they'd gone, New Zealand moved a significant step up from their indifferent work of the previous day.
But Vettori and his players have England buzzing away in their minds.
"The whole way through this series we've always talked about looking forward to England," Vettori said.
"We know we've got to win [against Bangladesh] and we can't get too far ahead of ourselves.
"But we're looking at things that are going to beat England, not just Bangladesh, and our control and composure with the ball today is something we're going to need."
Bangladesh had a terrific opportunity yesterday to show they are learning about test match batting.
Tamim and Siddique had shown the way but both were gone within 11 balls of each other early yesterday, one playing on to Kyle Mills, the other edging low to first slip.
The rest of the innings was a struggle and Bangladesh showed they have not mastered the skill of patience.
Habibul Bashar, their most experienced batsman, cut injudiciously to gully and both captain Mohammad Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed played loose, uppish shots into the offside, gifting Iain O'Brien his two wickets.
It wasn't good enough. Nothing like it. Bangladesh's batsmen sold themselves way short and New Zealand prospered.
Vettori nabbed four wickets but Chris Martin set the platform with a strong first hour's work. He got through 10 overs altogether yesterday, picking up two for eight.
Vettori admitted some hard thinking was done overnight. He learnt lessons on Saturday, having realised he had set overly ambitious fields when the pitch and Bangladesh openers required something smarter.
"I think we got carried away a bit with the ball [on Saturday]," Vettori said. "It was a bit of a learning curve for me too.
"I set too attacking fields and we expected to turn up and bowl them out. We thought a lot more about our fields today.
"To flick the switch overnight was pleasing and while we expected to beat them, they've got some capable batsmen. Today was pretty pleasing."
New Zealand should step up a gear when the second test starts at the Basin Reserve on Saturday.
They will have figured out that Bangladesh have a couple of openers who demand more respect and some fast-medium bowlers who are distinctly handy with the new ball, led by Mashrafe Mortaza.
There was no getting around the fact that New Zealand played some ordinary cricket for large chunks of this test. If England are coming into focus, they will know that this effort was well short in several respects.
But man of the match Jacob Oram, revitalised opener Matthew Bell and Martin all prospered. More prospering, and a steelier edge in Wellington will be welcome.
