Bashar misses out on opening Test

After playing in all 30 of Bangladesh's Tests until now, Habibul Bashar has been forced to miss the first Test against New Zealand, which starts at Dhaka's Bangabandhu Stadium on Tuesday. Bashar, who had been to Melbourne to undergo surgery on his broken right thumb in September, injured it again during practice last Thursday. Though X-rays indicated that the blow hadn't worsened the injury, a report in The Daily Star, a Bangladesh newspaper, said that Bashar didn't participate in the nets afterwards.

Bashar's absence is a huge blow to Bangladesh's hopes of making a match of it against New Zealand. By far their most successful Test batsman, Bashar has an aggregate of 2079 runs at a respectable average of 35.84, and has scored three of his team's eight Test hundreds.

The selectors have decided to reappoint Khaled Mashud as captain in Bashar's absence. Mashud stood down after Bangladesh's disastrous World Cup campaign in 2003, while the captaincy went to Rajin Saleh for the recent Champions Trophy. But this time, Saleh has been left to concentrate on his batting, and Alok Kapali looks set to replace Bashar in the middle-order.

For New Zealand, meanwhile, the two-Test series is an opportunity to break their horrible recent run in Tests: in their last 12 matches, they have lost five, drawn six, and won just one. Stephen Fleming admitted that it was a record he wanted to rectify: "Bangladesh haven't performed well in Tests and they're looking for their first win - it's our job to not let them do that and win this series comprehensively, but we have to play good cricket and that's what we've come here to do," Fleming told the New Zealand Press Association. "The first three days are status quo. Play good percentage cricket, build up some runs on the board and then we can take it to them. It's a simple game plan, but the key thing is not getting impatient, and giving them respect."

Fleming will certainly be satisfied with his team's display in the warm-up match against a Bangladesh Cricket Board XI. The only player who missed out in both innings was Mark Richardson, but given his outstanding record in Tests, Fleming won't be too worried about a rare failure in a practice match. The bowlers had a pretty good workout too, with all five who are likely to play in the Test getting among the wickets.

Regardless of the kind of pitch on offer, New Zealand have enough weapons in their bowling ranks to worry Bangladesh. If a turner is on offer, Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman could be as much of a force as Mohammad Rafique, Bangladesh's left-arm spinner and by far their most effective bowler.

Rafique himself was in high spirits after a practice session on the eve of the match: "They have very good batsmen but it will be tough for them to cope with the conditions here. Yet I cannot say whether this wicket will help the pacers or the slow bowlers, because we will be playing here after a long time [away]. My target is to take wickets and I am confident I'll do that."

New Zealand have also announced a short-list of 12 for the Test, omitting Chris Martin and Kyle Mills from their original 14-man squad. If they decide to go ahead with five bowlers, Hamish Marshall is the player who will almost certainly miss out.

Bangladesh (from) Javed Omar, Hannan Sarkar, Nafis Iqbal, Alamgir Kabir, Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Mushfiqur Rahman, Khaled Mashud (capt and wk), Manjurul Islam, Tapash Baisya, Mohammad Rafique, Tareq Aziz.

New Zealand (from) Mark Richardson, Mathew Sinclair, Stephen Fleming (capt), Scott Styris, Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Paul Wiseman, Ian Butler.