January 04, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 24, 1428

DUNEDIN (New Zealand), Jan 3: New Zealand have vowed to show no mercy when they take on Bangladesh in the first of two Tests, starting at the University Oval here on Friday.

The New Zealanders are overwhelming favourites to win the series opener after crushing Bangladesh 3-0 in the One-day International series last month.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has urged his players not to take pity on Bangladesh, who have won just one of 49 Tests against all countries, and adopt the same ruthless attitude the Australians show against weaker opponents.

“You can see what they (Australia) can do when they play well – we have to take a leaf out of their book and go from there,” Vettori said on Thursday.

Vettori said his players had an added incentive to perform after their disappointing performances in the recent Tests in South Africa.

“Two wins against Bangladesh are pretty precious to us,” he said. “We haven’t played a lot of Test cricket and when we have we haven’t been going too well.”

The New Zealand selectors reacted to the loss in South Africa by wielding the axe, giving several players the chance to impress against Bangladesh.

Opener Matthew Bell was recalled after a six-year absence along with fit-again Craig Cumming. Batsmen Scott Styris, Jamie How and Ross Taylor were all left out.

The bowling line-up has been weakened by the unavailability of Shane Bond, James Franklin and Mark Gillespie, but the selectors have shown faith in Vettori, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills and either Michael Mason or Iain O’Brien.

Bangladesh’s Australian coach Jamie Siddons said his players were approaching the game with a positive mindset, hoping to build on the experience.

“We’ve got a lot of young boys that are going to have a lot of bad days before they have some good ones,” he said. “How will we react? We’re capable of anything. We could respond really well, or we could capitulate — that’s how good we are.”

Dunedin’s University Oval will be hosting its first ever Test and the quality of the pitch could become a focus of controversy.

A recent first-class match ended within two days after pace bowlers exploited an unusually damp and green surface, although authorities have been working hard to bring it up to Test standard.

Teams (from):

NEW ZEALAND: Daniel Vettori (captain), Craig Cumming, Matthew Bell, Peter Fulton, Mathew Sinclair, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Michael Mason, Iain O’Brien, Chris Martin.

BANGLADESH: Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Shahriar Nafees, Habibul Bashar, Aftab Ahmed, Saqibul Hasan, Rajin Saleh, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Farhad Reza, Enamul Haque, Shahadat Hossain, Sajidul Islam.

Umpires: Nigel Llong (England) and Peter Parker (Australia).

Match referee: Chris Broad (England).—Agencies