Auckland rain foils Bangladeshis

Trevor Chappell was looking forward to honing the Bangladesh cricketers' skills on pitches greener and better than their bare home strips, but Auckland will make him and his eager charges wait.

The Bangladeshi players looked fresh and fit yesterday in the first training session of their New Zealand tour, but wet weather forced them into using the Eden Park indoor complex.

The long-range weather forecast suggests more Auckland rain this week, so the tourists may be short of outdoor batting and bowling before they start their three-day match against the New Zealand District Association XI at Wanganui, starting on Friday.

Chappell, their Australian-born coach, is looking forward to good, typically New Zealand conditions as valuable experience for his players.

"They can expect some sideways movement of the ball, and grassy pitches in New Zealand, while the bounce may not be as much a problem in New Zealand as it might be in Australia or South Africa," said Chappell.

"These will be very different playing conditions compared with the slow, grassless pitches which they so often encounter at home."

Chappell said the National Stadium in Dhaka was the only real cricket ground in the country, and was in use virtually every day of the year, so there was not much life left in the match and practice facilities. He saw the use of New Zealand playing conditions as part of the long learning curve his Bangladeshi players must travel in their climb to Test match competitiveness.