Cricket: Vettori casts eye to Australia

Daniel Vettori wants his side to improve their bowling at the death. Photo / Getty Images

Mission accomplished? Well ... yes, sort of.

New Zealand cricket captain Dan Vettori is largely a satisfied man now that his team have wrapped up the one-day series against Bangladesh.

A comprehensive five-wicket win in Dunedin yesterday left the hosts 2-0 up heading into the third and final match in Christchurch on Thursday, the last chance the New Zealanders will get to refine their game ahead of the arrival of Australia late this month.

And the prospect of a five-match limited overs series against Ricky Ponting's men was at the forefront of Vettori's mind as he cast judgment on his side's performance at University Oval yesterday.

New Zealand restricted Bangladesh to 183 for eight before passing their target for the loss of five wickets in 27.3 overs, pushed along at a rapid rate by Ross Taylor's scintillating 78 off 51 deliveries.

Vettori cut a contented figure after the game, aside from some unease with the way his side went about their work late in the Bangladeshi innings when the tourists scored 92 runs in the last 10 overs after fighting back from a perilous 25 for five and 46 for six.

"It's still about execution. The size of the boundaries (at University Oval) make it a little more difficult but I think we missed a little too much," Vettori said.

"If we want to compete against Australia it is an area of our game we have to make sure is almost perfect otherwise it is very difficult to stop very good teams."

Bangladesh certainly do not fall into that category although they deserved praise for at least making a game of it; at one stage the match seemed likely to be finished before the scheduled break in innings.

Impressive left-arm quick Andy McKay was short, sharp and accurate in taking two for 17 off his 10 overs delivered in two spells, helping undermine Bangladesh's hopes from the outset as they slid to 25 for five inside 13 overs.

Only a defiant stand of 101 for the seventh wicket between Mushfiqur Rahim, who made 86 off 107 balls, and Naeem Islam, 43, enabled the tourists to bat out their overs.

They took their good time to start with but slowly built some momentum towards the end as seamers Daryl Tuffey and Ian Butler came in for some late stick.

The partnership between Rahim and Naeem at least took some sting out of the defeat for Bangladeshi captain Shakib Al Hasan, who had presided over a 146-run defeat in the opening match.

But he said his side would not be competitive unless three or four of his batsmen struck form at the same time.

"We are bowling well with the new ball but we need a lot of improvement in our batting, and our fielding."

- NZPA