Want to strike early on second day - Taylor

Ross Taylor said that New Zealand finished the first day of the second Test in Mirpur with a slight advantage over Bangladesh and the side would target more wickets before the second new ball is introduced on Tuesday. However, with an 80% chance of rain in the Mirpur region forecast for the second day, it is likely that New Zealand's plans will have to wait.

"The momentum was with us but we can't control the weather," Taylor said. "It's probably still pretty evenly poised. The rain has given our fast bowlers an extra break and hopefully weather permitting, we can strike early and get them seven or eight down before the second new ball.

"The main focus is that our bowlers are still fresh and we want to pick up early wickets whenever we do get out there. As I said, if we can get them seven or eight down before the next new ball, I am sure that whatever the total is then, we will be satisfied considering Bangladesh won the toss."

The loss of five wickets for 228 on the board did not sit well with the home side. They had two good partnerships that ended earlier than they would have liked, and Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan - batsmen who could have attacked the visitors' bowling - fell before the tea break. Two top-order batsmen, Marshall Ayub and Mominul Haque, got out in the forties, and Marshall admitted that Bangladesh lost one more wicket than they would have liked on a good batting pitch.

"I think we lost one extra wicket," Marshall said. "If Shakib was still around, it would have done us good. The wicket was really good, and I think it will turn on the third and fourth day. Our initial target is around 400 runs; we didn't want to score very quickly today but we got the scoring opportunities and made use of them.

"Mominul can play a big innings, and he was batting well. Tamim has hundreds to his name. If they stayed together, we could have made around 275 today. It would have also been great had one of them got to a hundred."

Bangladesh looked to be dominating the visitors during the 67-run second-wicket stand between Marshall and Tamim. The pair played shots freely, with the newcomer outpacing Tamim during the stand. A beautiful inswinging delivery from Neil Wagner went through Marshall's defensive prod, ending the stand.

Taylor said the second-wicket stand had put pressure on the visitors but their bowling attack had benefited from Wagner's inclusion.

"Marshall and Tamim came out and played their shots," Taylor said. "It's quite a small boundary both sides of the wicket probably being brought in ten meters each side, which makes for small boundaries, so once you get it through the field, it does go. We would have liked to have restricted them a little bit more. You have got to give credit to the way Bangladesh batted but we are happy with the way we came back.

"Wagner is a bounce bowler, he didn't play in the last game. He wanted to prove a point. His first spell of nine overs in that heat was a credit to him. The wicket played the way we thought it would. It had a little more bounce than in Chittagong and swung a bit more as well."