Bangladesh head coach Steve Rhodes on Wednesday said they were more confident than ever to face the Kiwis in a neutral venue in their second encounter of the ongoing ICC Men’s World Cup in England and Wales today.
Bangladesh kicked off the World Cup with a stunning victory over South Africa on June 2. Now, they are all set to take on New Zealand at 6:30pm (BST).
The Bangladesh coach said the win in their tournament opener set the tone for the Tigers to play a good brand of cricket. “We’re very happy with the victory over South Africa. However, we still have eight matches to go. At the same time, we know the people back home are delighted with the result of the first game,” Rhodes told the media.
“We’re in a better shape now to take them (New Zealand) this time around. At the same time, we know the task against New Zealand will be a tough one,” he said.
Bangladesh have a good memory to beat the Kiwis in the last ICC Champions Trophy in England when they lost four wickets while chasing 266 runs. Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad came in and made up a stand of 224 runs to chase the target.
Rhodes believes that was a memory which can inspire them again in another clash against New Zealand.
Before coming to this match, New Zealand beat Sri Lanka in their first World Cup match by 10 wickets. However, given to the strength of the current set-up of Sri Lanka, that result was not much shocking for them.
The Blackcaps are also upbeat ahead of their second encounter of the ongoing ICC Men’s World Cup.
Tom Latham, one of the best weapons of the Kiwis in the World Cup, said they will go unchanged against Bangladesh.
“We’re going in with the same playing XI (that played against Sri Lanka). I think the way we played in the last game signals a lot of confidence for the group,” Latham told the media.
In their first match, New Zealand crushed Sri Lanka by 10 wickets. The boys of the island nation were clueless against the Kiwis both with the ball and bat. Especially, the Kiwi pace attack was tremendous in the match as Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson bagged three wickets each to hand Sri Lanka a massive defeat.
On the other hand, the Tigers were also imperious in the first game against fancied South Africa. They batted first under the overcast condition and posted 330 runs, which was proved to be too good for the Proteas to chase down.
“New Zealand are a familiar side for us. For the last few years, we’ve played on their soil, and they’ve also visited us at our home. But the new match will be tough for both of the teams as we’re set to face each other in a neutral venue this time around,” Bangladesh opener Soumya Sarker told reporters on Tuesday.
Bangladesh have so far played four matches against New Zealand in the World Cups and failed to win any of them. Apart from the World Cup, Bangladesh faced New Zealand in 34 matches and came up victorious in 10 of them.