The Bangladesh ‘A’ team lost the two-match, four-day series 1-0 against their New Zealand counterparts after the second and final game ended in a draw at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Saturday.
Resuming on 277-4 in reply to Bangladesh’s 357, New Zealand were bowled out for 379 in their first innings, taking a narrow 22-run lead.
Home spinner Nayeem Hasan, deprived of a wicket on the third day, found success on the placid fourth-day pitch as the right-arm spinner claimed 4-102.
Nayeem got rid of overnight batters Matthew Boyle (58 off 99) and centurion Nick Kelly early on the day. Kelly, who remained unbeaten on 83, went on to complete his hundred on the final day before being dismissed for 103 off 167 deliveries.
Mitchell Hay (3) then became Nayeem’s third victim and took another down the order of Jayden Lennox (20), as the visitors lost their final six wickets for 102 runs.
Coming into bat in their second innings, Bangladesh scored 87-2 in 24 overs.
Zakir Hasan (24 off 55) and Amite Hasan (21 off 36) were batting before the game was called off, and both teams settled for a draw.
Anamul Haque and Saif Hassan played brief knocks of 24 and 16 runs, respectively.
New Zealand had earlier taken a lead by defeating the hosts in the first four-day match by 70 runs in Sylhet.
Despite having a more experienced side, Bangladesh fell short against the Kiwis. Bangladesh captain Nurul Hasan Sohan thinks it’s their mental barrier that prevented them from winning.
‘Obviously… New Zealand are a good team. They have quality players and they had many International players. We did well in the one-day series. We tried to win the four-day series, but we scrambled in the middle and went to the backfoot. Otherwise the result could have been different,’ said Nurul at the post-match press conference.
‘When I was named the ‘A’ team skipper, coach Babul sir and I had a meeting with the players. We talked about the cultural change in the ‘A’ team in terms of setting personal targets,’ he said
‘We have to change the culture within our team. When playing for the national team or Bangladesh ‘A’, you can’t keep personal goals; rather, focus on the team game.’
‘We have to overcome the mental barrier. Our players need to play freely and contribute to the team build-up. Eventually, we need to change the culture within the team,’ he added.
Earlier, Bangladesh won the three-match one-day series 2-1.
