New Zealand will be looking to wrap up their one-day cricket series against Bangladesh early when they meet in the second match of the three-match series in Napier today.
The convincing six-wicket win in the opening match in Auckland on Wednesday was a welcome tonic for a side which had seemingly lost all confidence after thrashings by Australia and South Africa in recent weeks.
Now, with an eye on the looming challenge from England who arrive in February, captain Daniel Vettori wants to ram home the advantage over Bangladesh to further lift morale.
"We've got to be tough on ourselves because we know that we have to put in good performances here so they lead into the England series," he said after New Zealand weathered early pressure to beat Bangladesh with ease.
"There's always a few slip-ups but to come back from having a team 140-2 and to bowl them out for 200 is the most important bit," Vettori said.
The main hurdle facing New Zealand is Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful's aggressive approach to the New Zealand bowling attack.
Bangladesh have never beaten New Zealand in nine encounters, but Ashraful gave them a chance with a rollicking 70 off 57 balls before falling to an injudicious shot rather than a quality ball.
"I thought he was pretty outstanding," Vettori said. "It sort of reminded us of of some of the world class players going round at the moment in his ability to hit good balls for fours and sixes consistently."
"He's obviously got an amazing eye and is going to be a major threat to us the whole series," he said.
But apart from Tamim Iqbal (50) who shared in a 97-run partnership with Ashraful, the Bangladeshis were unable to offer their captain much support.
With Ashraful's dismissal the tourists slumped from 150 for three in the 29th over to be all out for 201 in the 47th, a target New Zealand chased down in less than 43 overs.
Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons said his star batsmen must shoulder some of the blame for the loss.
"Ashraful and Tamim seemed to make it look pretty easy but the two guys threw it away," Siddons said.
"The batsman that were in were probably looking at a 280 target rather than making sure we got 250. The captain has a bit to answer for there," he said. "We've got to make sure we get 250 and bat our 50 overs. We've broken a few teams rules and hopefully it won't happen again."
"If you get those sorts of starts you can't afford to fall away that badly," Siddons said.
But aside from the middle and lower order batting failure, Bangladesh also failed with the ball, unable to ruffle a New Zealand batting line up short on confidence.
After the second ODI in Napier the teams move to Queenstown for the third and final match on New Year's Eve.
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