New Zealand captain Tom Latham admitted they were thoroughly outclassed by a classy Bangladesh side in the first Test of two-match series in which they conceded an eight-wicket defeat.
The defeat which was their first Test defeat at the hands of Bangladesh, snapped New Zealand’s 17-match unbeaten run at home.
“We weren’t quite there in all three facets really, Bangladesh certainly showed us how to go about things on that wicket,” Latham who is leading the side in absence of regular captain Kane Williamson said after the match.
“They were able to build partnerships, apply a lot of pressure and unfortunately we weren't able to do it for long enough.”
Latham also indicated about the nature of wicket, which was not New Zealand-type..in fact it was a slow wicket which played to Bangladesh’s advantage. Latham believed the next match which will be held at Hagley Oval in Christchurch from January 9 will also be a slow wicket.
“There have been only two Test matches here, both matches have been similar, probably a little bit slower than what we expected and did not quite break up as much," he pointed out about wicket. But Latham said it is Bangladesh’s credit to keep them in severely pressure and denied them forming any good partnership over the five days of cricket.
World Champions at Test cricket, New Zealand were bowled out for 328 in the first innings and then Bangladesh dealt with their much-vaunted bowling line up superbly to rack up 458, which gave them a handy 130-run lead.
New Zealand fared badly in the second innings too as Bangladesh’s fast bowler Ebadot Hossain took 6-46 to wrap them up for just 169 runs. Bangladesh got a target of just 40 runs to win and they happily achieved the target for their first Test victory against in 16 matches.
It was Bangladesh's first victory on New Zealand soil across three formats in 33 attempts.
“We sort of knew what it would be like, probably looking back at the first innings, the position we were in - if we get 450, then it's probably a different story but full credit to Bangladesh, they thoroughly deserve the win,” Latham said.
But the opening batter Latham vowed to learn from the mistakes even though he said the defeat hurts them much.
“It hurts but we have got to turn to Christchurch in a few days' time and hopefully we will take the learning from this and apply them to what will be a different surface at Hagley,” Latham said.
“Every individual has to reflect on their learning from what was a slightly different surface here and our focus has got to turn to Hagley and hopefully we can put up a good performance there,” he concluded.