Tim Southee slams Dhaka wicket

Tim Southee has lambasted the second test pitch in Bangladesh describing it as “probably the worst I’ve come across in my career”.

New Zealand won by four wickets in Dhaka to level the two-test cricket series but captain Southee still had a crack at the surface.

“There certainly wasn’t an even battle between bat and ball,” said Southee, who initially tried to hold back his criticism before letting fly with his “worst” comment.

“It was a scrappy test (on) a tough wicket. Runs were hard to come by. Little moments and partnerships were crucial, whereas in other matches, I guess when conditions are a little bit more even between bat and ball, they don’t get noticed so much.”

“To lose the toss and come out on top on a wicket like that was very pleasing.”

New Zealand scored 180 in its first turn at bat, the highest innings total in the test. There were 1069 balls bowled, the third lowest in test history when 36 wickets fell.

Spin bowlers took 30 of those wickets, and New Zealand opened with spinners Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel in the second Bangladesh innings.

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto defended the state of the pitch.

“We should prepare wickets like these and wickets like away conditions,” he said.

“We should definitely take this type of advantage.

“We didn’t bat well in Dhaka. We should have scored 230-240 runs in the first innings.

“The wicket seemed bad because we got 172. The new ball was a challenge but that’s also true anywhere around the world. It wasn’t anything different here.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission