'Cannot focus only on Williamson' - Mashrafe

Bangladesh only have positive thoughts going into their match against New Zealand even though they know they are lucky to still have a chance to qualify for the semi-finals and could still go home even with victory in Cardiff.

The captain Mashrafe Mortaza admitted they had reacted negatively to their warm-up collapse against India, when they were skittled for 84 at The Oval, by picking an extra batsman for the opening England fixture. He promised, however, there would be no repeat, despite struggling against Australia except for Tamim Iqbal's defiant 95.

"We have to think positive for sure," Mashrafe said. "For that we need to pick five bowlers - we normally play with five bowlers all the time. In the first match we were maybe thinking of the India practice match, but we can't just go the negative way. We have to score as well as we have to get them all out.

"We knew before the tournament that we had to produce something special, otherwise it wouldn't be easy to beat teams like England and Australia. But we are a team that wouldn't let go of a chance, so if one comes up tomorrow we will have to make sure we don't let it slip."

Bangladesh are certainly familiar with New Zealand's style of cricket, even if the side they faced in Ireland - and beat in their most recent meeting - did not contain some of the senior players. Among those they did not meet last month was Kane Williamson - who has been in magnificent form in the opening two matches - but, like Tamim, he too has very little to show for his efforts so far.

"He is in great form but we cannot focus only in on Williamson," Mashrafe said. "They have some players like [Martin] Guptill who can change the game. So we have to think about all of their batsmen as a bowling group. And also if you look on our side, I think Tamim is in great form. It doesn't mean that Tamim will come in to score tomorrow, as well. So you never know what's going to happen."

Bangladesh are yet to see in this tournament how their batting fares if Tamim fails to post a significant score, although even with his contributions, the middle and lower order has not offered much beyond Mushfiqur Rahim's 79 against England. In that match, they struggled to accelerate during the closing overs while in the Australia game they collapsed from 122 for 3 to 182 all out after the dismissal of Shakib Al Hasan. But Mashrafe said that Bangladesh's batting depth should not be disregarded on the basis of their recent performances.

"Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur and Shakib are players who can change the course of a game. We can win from a really bad situation if they are around. I am hoping that they will rise on the big situation, which is coming up tomorrow.

"Everyone is excited. We knew that these three matches would be difficult for us. We know our limitations and strengths, so we are basing our game on those lines. We were lucky against Australia to get a point; we didn't play too badly against England. We are still in the tournament, with a game in hand. I can feel it in the dressing room. We want to have a positive end to this tournament."