BLACKwash

As Kyle Mills heaved across the line and the crowd in the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium erupted in joy of the realization of yet another victory, there was a sense of shock and amazement for everyone with the timber being disturbed. A 4-0 drubbing of a quality team like New Zealand cannot involve a minnow like Bangladesh, not for their lack of quality or intent but just because they have this tendency of messing it up due their lack of maturity at the big stage, if you may say so. Like some results in the past, is this again a flash in the pan?

They have forgotten how to win

Right since they got Test status in 2000, Bangladesh have been a joke in the cricketing fraternity. They have threatened to upset mighty teams countless times, but apart from a shock or two once in an eternity, like the victory over Australia five years ago, they have made a fool out of themselves. Even this year in their tour of England, they messed it up after promising so much at crucial stages in the Test series and finally managed a success courtesy a win in a one-dayer later. They managed to upset a second string West Indian team not too long ago, but you cannot call it an achievement as West Indies cricket is going through its worst phase at this moment with even their first choice team playing worse than a bunch of school kids.

New Zealand is known to be a very smart team, and for a squad led by one of the coolest heads in around to succumb to a mediocre Bangladesh team is no less than a disaster. Even after considering all the odds that were stacked against them in terms of the sub-continental Bangladeshi conditions, to lose as many as four games is difficult to comprehend. This cannot come from a team that challenges all the other mighty team and is such a consistent performer in most of the bilateral tours and ICC tournaments. Please, we do not want to think out of the box here…

“We have had a dreadful series and we are obviously extremely disappointed,” said Vettori. It was worse than dreadful.

“Disappointing is an understatement. When you lose 4-0 in a country you’re going to be playing a World Cup match, then it’s a big concern,” Geoff Allott, general manager of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said. “From a fitness perspective, and a technical perspective, we’ve got the goods, it’s actually the decision-making. Throughout the series there were cross-bat shots. Some senior players would be the first to put their hands up and say they didn’t lead by example.”

So much so that it has sparked an emergency meeting between New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, coach Mark Greatbach, high performance director Roger Mortimer and NZC. A reshuffle Pakistan style is not expected, but tough steps are definitely going to be taken.

India plays New Zealand next: expect a tough and rejuvenated Kiwis striking back hard having learnt to thrive in the tough conditions.

The Bangladesh debacle cannot still be called the high point of Bangladesh cricket. It is the lowest point of New Zealand Cricket.