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New Zealand v Bangladesh betting: Young tourists have the ability to pull off at least one shock

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Andrew Hughes sees positive signs for Ashraful's young charges...

On June 18th 2005, at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Bangladesh beat Australia by four wickets to register the greatest cricketing shock of all time.

It wasn't a mere eyebrow raiser like India's win in the 1983 World Cup final, nor a chortle-inducing knockabout in dodgy conditions like the Zimbabwean toppling of Australia in Cape Town this year. This was a genuine 'slap in the face' shock, a totally unexpected result. In fact it deserves to rank ahead of such upsets as England's footballers losing to the USA in the 1950 World Cup or Norton's Coin's 1990 Gold Cup win. In a game like cricket, played over several hours, it takes more than a lucky shot or a moment of madness for a David to down a Goliath.

But Bangladesh's success wasn't a flash in the pan. Two years later, coach Dav Whatmore had engineered further wins over India and South Africa in the World Cup. Whatmore deserves a lot of credit. Appointed after a disastrous campaign in the 2003 World Cup, he raised the self-confidence of a team who had started to believe in their own inferiority, relying on older hands like Habibul Bashar and Mohammad Rafique, but including some talented youngsters such as Mohammed Ashraful. With the retirements of Whatmore and Bashar and the accession of Ashraful to the captaincy this year, a new stage in the develepment of Bangladeshi cricket is beginning. But the road to full acceptance still has many hard miles to travel. Since gaining Test status in June 2000, Bangladesh, like Sri Lanka before them have been caught in cricket's version of Catch 22. In order to become a better team, they need to test themselves against the best, but they are denied regular opportunities, because they are deemed not good enough.

But those calling for Bangladesh to lose their full ICC membership are short-sighted. Yes, Bangladesh are a long way off being competitive with most Test teams. But it took their current opponents New Zealand 26 years and 45 Tests to register their first win. And Bangladesh are a deserving case for our patience. This is a country of 150 million people who love their cricket and given time, investment and opportunity, they can emulate Sri Lanka.

Indeed, there are already very positive signs. For some time now the Bangladeshi U19 team has been one of the best in the world and have regularly tasted victory against the likes of India and Sri Lanka. Some of these players are reaching the fringes of the Test side. The average age of the one day squad touring New Zealand at the moment is an astonishing 21. The future for Bangladeshi cricket is bright, providing the unrealistically high expectations of the Bangladeshi people doesn't put these young players under too much pressure too soon.

And for the moment, the one day format is where Bangladesh continue to look most dangerous. New Zealand is a tough trip for players brought up on dry and dusty pitches but though they lost their two 50 over warm-up games, they showed some fighting spirit and their win in Sunday's Twenty20 game will have boosted their confidence, dented by the return home of key bowler Syed Rasel.

But though the Black Caps are going through a rough patch, with coach John Bracewell copping a lot of flak after listless performances in South Africa and the Chappell Hadlee Trophy, they ought to be able to dispose of their vistors and 3-0 is not an unlikely score. If Bangladesh are to cause a surprise, it might be in the opener at Eden Park, Auckland, where the conditions might negate the home side's seam attack and aid the battery of part-time spinners the tourists have at their disposal.

Daniel Vettori's men are rightly favourites for the first game at [1.15] with the visitors at [6.0] Those odds look a fair reflection of their relative chances but I will be keeping a close eye on the market and will be backing Bangladesh if they go as high as [7.0] as they have shown they have the talent to inflict a one-off shock. To win the series though, I wouldn't fancy them at less than [14.0] .

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