As unassuming it may seem, there has been a good contest between New Zealand and Bangladesh starting from the one day internationals where Bangladesh won a match to a good spirited fight in the test series.

Couple of weeks back, there was panic among the ranks, when a sizable chunk of their cricketers were captured the way pirates do in the form of the ICL. In response, Bangladesh set up a young new team and the ICL had also something to cheer about with their first centurion coming from among the ranks of the Dhaka Warriors.

If only Bangladesh had played well in the second innings, there might have been more pleasant moments in store for them in the next few tests and also for their confidence in being bashed and rubbished away all the time.  I keep quoting the example of Sri Lanka as a classic case of a side which suddenly lifted its game, its administration and have never looked back since those days where it was a fun bet to place on whether Sri Lanka will cross 100 runs or not. It is with that faith will Bangladesh hopefully rise its ranks.

As for New Zealand, from the time Bond left, there was enough stories going around that all is not well in their domestic front. Nevertheless, New Zealand pulled off a hard fought victory with da man, Daniel Vettori, single-handedly pulling them through.

New Zealand has reasons to be worried. Vettori is a number 7 batsmen and as far as the last few seasons have gone, I can only remember Vettori fighting it out, scoring runs and that doesn’t hold good for New Zealand and their problems.

Nine wickets in a match and two fifties that won New Zealand the game. There may be big names among the bowlers in world cricket for the moment, but as far as my thoughts, he is the best bowler in the world today. For the moment, Daniel Vettori is da man! Can leading from the front be better defined!