KEY POINTS:
At four down for 44 and even given the three dropped chances the Black Caps put down early on day one, they nullified the effect of losing the toss against Bangladesh.
I've no doubt this pitch will weather quickly and could very well be a minefield on days
four and five. I heard that the groundsman had confidence in his pitch.
As the commentator at the time said, "he feels it will hold together for three days".
Maybe when you prepare surfaces for a team who struggle to take a test match past three days then perhaps that confidence is justified.
I hope for the Black Caps' sake they are not forced to chase anything of reasonable substance in the final innings - and that could be as little as 150 should this pitch go the way it appears it will.
Aaron Redmond put two chances down on day one. One was a straightforward slip offering and the second a relatively challenging over-the-head one at short leg.
I've always viewed catching as an exercise in cricket frequency. The more you play, the more routine catching becomes.
Redmond has not been playing under test match conditions for a while and so I can understand how he may shell a couple. Under this same rationale, I can forgive the Black Caps for dropping the first ODI.
Bangladesh had come from Australia, New Zealand from winter. ODIs are as easy to lose as they are to win and in that first one both the Black Cap bowling and batting were well underdone for the conditions.
In game two, while the batting was fragile, the bowling found more form. Batting is quite instant and you're lucky if you get a second chance. Bowling is a little less instant and you get time within a match to recover.
By match three, the team were operating as the unit they should.
I now expect nothing less than a comprehensive 2-0 scoreline in the test series. Bangladesh should be good enough to win the odd session or even the better part of a day but, over the longer contest, the Black Caps should be far superior.
Congratulations to Sachin Tendulkar on becoming test cricket's highest runscorer. Very few would have felt the pressure to achieve more than India's little master and, at times, the mood of Indian cricket mirrored the form of Tendulkar.
He now has more test runs than Brian Lara but for me Lara is still the best test batsman since Don Bradman.
Lara took 19 fewer matches to amass the same tally as Tendulkar but it is the big, big scores that set the two apart. To make the highest test score once is great but to regain your lost record is outstanding.
