Test match preparations suffer further blow

Bangladesh's preparation for their first Test against New Zealand in Hamilton in nine days suffered a further damaging blow when the third and final day of their warm-up match against a New Zealand District Association XI at Victoria Park, Wanganui today was abandoned because of rain.

Only four balls were bowled on the second day yesterday and all possibility of further play today was erased when torrential rain fell in Wanganui overnight and throughout the morning.

The tourists now have only a four-day match against Auckland to prepare themselves for the first of their two Tests against New Zealand which starts on December 18.

Few teams would suffer more than Bangladesh from this kind of weather-imposed inaction. New Zealand conditions are as far removed from their experience as it is possible to come in the world of Test cricket and they can only hope to adjust to those conditions through prolonged match play.

With the loss of two of their seven days of first-class or representative cricket ahead of the first Test, Bangladesh's adjustment to New Zealand conditions has been severely handicapped. They are a nation who only began to play first-class cricket last season and whose objective on this New Zealand tour is to increase their very limited international experience.

Nor has that experience been considerably increased by the single day's play achieved in this match. They spent that day in the field after the District Association XI had won the toss and batted and it might have been far more to their advantage had they been able to bat, to at least sample the pace, the character of a New Zealand pitch.

The match remains suspended as it was at the end of the first day's play, with the Districts XI 232/3. They declared at that score on a second day on which only four balls were bowled before rain intervened. Bangladesh were about to begin their first innings when the day was abandoned.

Bangladesh were disappointed but understanding when umpires Dave Quested and Billy Bowden made the decision to abandon play half an hour before what was to be an early start at 10am. Wanganui was huddled under an immovable blanket of rain cloud and the picturesque arena at Victoria Park was already waterlogged.

Coach Trevor Chappell said the judgement of how costly the loss of play in this match was to the tourists could probably not be made until the Test series begins.

"It's certainly damaging," he said. "The whole purpose of this tour is to increase the players' experience of different conditions and we can't do that if we don't play.

"We just have to hope we get four clear days against Auckland but I hear conditions there have been very similar.

"Ideally we would have as much experience of these conditions as possible before we face New Zealand. It's important for our batsmen and our bowlers to get the pace and bounce of the wickets and to increase their knowledge of what is a very different environment to their own.

"We can practise indoors but that can never fully replicate conditions in the middle."