CHITTAGONG (Bangladesh), Oct 16: Daniel Vettori faces a double challenge, both as skipper and spin bowler, as New Zealand come back from a long break to take on Bangladesh in the first of two Tests here from Friday.

The 29-year-old left-armer knows that different sub-continent conditions – the slow pitches and sweltering heat – mean spinners see far more action than fast bowlers.

“It will be our first Test in a long time so it is an exciting challenge and we are geared up for that,” said Vettori, whose team’s last Test was in England five months ago.

It was Vettori who took six wickets in each innings of the Chittagong Test at the M.A. Aziz Stadium when New Zealand mauled the hapless Bangladesh by an innings exactly four years ago.

Vettori said he was looking forward to the action during this week’s Test at the Divisional Stadium.

The Black Caps recovered well from the shock of suffering their first-ever one-day defeat against Bangladesh in the opening game by winning the next two to wrap up the series 2-1 on Tuesday.

The visitors are a frontline bowler short, with the experienced paceman Chris Martin left out of the Test squad through a hamstring strain. He has been replaced by Mark Gillespie.

Bangladesh too have problems of their own. They have won just one of their 53 Tests so far, losing 47 with five draws.

To add to their woes, 14 frontline players, including their most experienced Test player Habibul Bashar, joined the unrecognised ICL last month, badly depleting the strength of the team.

Bangladesh have recalled experienced batsman Rajin Saleh in a squad of 13 which includes three left-arm spinners in Abdur Razzak, Mehrab Hossain and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.

The squad also includes off-spinning all-rounder Naeem Islam and paceman Mahbubul Alam, both of who have yet to play in a Test.

Teams (from):

BANGLADESH: Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Junaed Siddique, Rajin Saleh, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mehrab Hossain, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain, Mahbubul Alam.

NEW ZEALAND: Daniel Vettori (captain), Jamie How, Aaron Redmond, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, Grant Elliott, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Gareth Hopkins, Iain O’Brien, Mark Gillespie.

Umpires: Daryl Harper (Australia) and Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka).

TV umpire: Enamul Hoque (Bangladesh).

Match referee: Javagal Srinath (India).

—AFP