Brave effort not quite enough to save Bangladesh from loss

The 267-minutes battle for 79 not out by the 32-year-old right-hander, Aminul Islam, nearly earned Bangladesh an unlikely draw in the four-day match against Auckland which ended at 11 o'clock this morning with Auckland winning by an innings and 193 runs.

Aminul and his No 11 colleague Manjural Islam stuck together for another 30 minutes this morning while Auckland strove to get the winning wicket - and only managed to break the stand when Manjural played on.

Thirty-five minutes later light rain began to fall. It turned into a mist and then came back with a solid shower and as the grey clouds hung over Auckland there might not have been any more time for cricket today.

However, Trevor Chappell, the Australian-born Bangladesh coach, maintained that even if Aminul's valiant innings did not stop the Auckland victory, it gave a vivid display of the type of batting Bangladesh will need when they step up to the first Test against New Zealand at WestpacTrust Park in Hamilton on Tuesday.

That innings was the most valuable pre-Test lesson the Bangladeshis could get, said Chappell. With their grounding in one-day matches the Bangladeshis did not learn the art of patient batting.

"They can often be bowled out in round about 50 overs," said Chappell, and mentioned the evidence that the Bangladesh first innings on Wednesday occupied only two sessions, and the tourists lost nine second innings wickets in two sessions yesterday.

In fact, the Bangladesh first innings was not as long as Aminul's knock in the second innings.

Chappell said there were plenty of lessons his players could learn from the Aucklanders. His batsmen tended to play too much from the back foot, and were often caught on the crease-line. Auckland showed his men the art of running between the wickets, moving with the stroke rather than wasting time watching the field and not having time for the single.

"We could learn some fielding lessons, too, from the way the Aucklanders anticipated the stroke and were moving when the ball was struck, whereas our chaps tend to wait and see where the ball is heading.

"However, I think we have made a lot of progress in this match against Auckland. Aminul showed that if you stay at the crease runs will come. Some of our batsmen may get tied down for three or four overs, and then feel they must hit a boundary to keep the score moving.

"Our bowling improved quite a lot, especially yesterday morning when the bowlers had a much better line and we took five wickets.

"We are much wiser than we were at the start of this Auckland match."

It had taken time for the Bangldeshis to adjust to the green type of pitch Eden Park Outer Oval produced, and which the tourists seldom encountered at home.

"It was mainly a matter of having the ball swing quite a lot, and I thought the Auckland bowlers used the conditions well once they picked up the right line in the second session on Wednesday.

"As I understand it the Hamilton pitch may look tricky, but should play well."

Chappell was eager to press home the lessons learned at Eden Park. Before the rain he had training sessions planned at Eden Park this afternoon ("we were supposed to have the use of the ground until 6pm") and tomorrow morning, before the Bangladeshis move to Hamilton.

Fortunately, said Chappell, his players had retained their good humour.

"They have been knocked about in the past, but afterward they still have their good humour, they can joke about it, and get on with learning about the game."