The New Zealand test captain Tim Southee opened on their defeat in the Test match against Bangladesh and refused to blame World Cup fatigue for their loss.
Tim Southee absolves World Cup fatigue
The Bangladesh vs New Zealand first test of the black caps tour player between November 28 and December 02 concluded with the victory of the hosts by 150 runs. The New Zealand test squad retained several players from the World Cup for the tour.
But they failed to recreate the spark they had in the ICC tournament and collapsed their batting order in the second innings leading to defeat. The Blackcaps lost and were knocked out of the World Cup semifinal match against the hosts on November 19.
Their defeat against Bangladesh is their second defeat with the first coming from the Test match played in January 2022.
While speaking after the match Tim Southee said, “We had a little bit of a break after the World Cup. But I think as players, you know that it’s a busy schedule,” said Southee after the defeat in Sylhet.
“You know what’s in front of you. You’re trying to freshen up as well as you can. The guys were in good spirits before this.
“It’s been a long time on the road for some but that’s part and parcel of being an international cricketer.”
“Nothing changes for us. You worry about what’s in front of you, and what’s in front of us is a Test match in Dhaka,” he said, referring to the upcoming second Test.
“Our next challenge is to try and be better than what we’ve been here… as players, we look back on this and we’ll keep looking at ways to move forward.”
“You look at the conditions, and you look at the squad you’ve got, and you pick your best 11,” he said.
“You look at the bowling group and KJ (Jamieson) has been a phenomenal performer for us, Ish Sodhi was the man of the series in the last series that he played, and AJ (Patel) has been a great bowler for us,” he said.
“I think the Bangladesh bowlers bowled well, and (were) very accurate,” he said.
“We were probably a little bit off in terms of our ability to build pressure for long periods.”
New Zealand will be playing their second test between December 6 and 10 at Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka.
