26 October 2004	Tuesday	11 Ramazan 1425

CHITTAGONG, Oct 25: Bangladesh captain Khaled Mashud has urged his team to bury frustrations and play positive cricket in the second Test starting on Tuesday against New Zealand.

"We must leave our frustrations after the first Test and play positive and better cricket here," Mashud told reporters on Monday.

Stephen Fleming's New Zealanders, victors by an innings and 99 runs in last week's series opener at Dhaka, spent the morning working out at Test venue M.A. Aziz Stadium.

Bangladesh is still yet to register a win in 31 Tests since it gained full membership of the International Cricket Council in 2000. And Fleming said his Bangladeshi rivals wouldn't start winning at Test level until they stopped being overawed by the top international teams.

"It's going to be a tough road and at some stage they're going to break through, but that could depend on when they have no fear," Fleming told the New Zealand Press Association.

"They're possibly getting close to that. You do see when they do play positively they can put a bit of pressure on, but they can't sustain at this stage."

Fleming wasn't expecting any changes to the New Zealand lineup that secured the first Test inside four of the five scheduled days.

Wicket-keeper Mashud, deputizing as captain for the injured Habibul Bashar, blamed Bangladesh's poor batting for the defeat in the first Test.

New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori exploited pitch conditions tailor-made for the local bowling attack for a match-winning haul of 6 for 28 as the local batsmen crumbled in the last innings.

"Batting is our big weakness. In our team meetings we discuss ways to improve our batting," Mashud said.

Mushud won the toss and elected to bat first in Dhaka before Bangladesh struggled to 177. New Zealand responded with 402 - an innings lead of 225 runs - and then bowled Bangladesh out for 126.

Bangladesh's best first innings dig of 67 came from the bat of young Mohammad Ashraful, while other top-order batsmen failed around him.

Mashud said the team would again miss Bashar, Bangladesh's most successful batsman who has compiled 2,079 Test runs at average of 35.84.

In the second Test, focus will also be on Nafis Iqbal, 19, who missed his debut half-century by one run at Dhaka; and uncapped batsman Aftab Ahmed Chowdhury, included in the squad for the second Test.

Badiul Alam, curator of the pitch at M.A. Aziz Stadium, said it is expected to favor the batsmen for the first two days before slowing down.-AP