New Zealand start clear favourites against Bangladesh

St Peter's (Antigua), Apr 1 (UNI) Buoyed by their resounding victory over host West Indies, New Zealand will go flat out to maintain their winning spree as they take on Bangladesh in their second Super Eights league game at the Sir Vivian Richards ground here tomorrow.

Unbeaten in the competition in their four games so far, the Kiwis already have four points in the kitty and against the out-of-place Tigers, they will be keen to achieve an emphatic win to firm up their place in the semi-finals.

Yesterday's 10-wicket defeat at the hands of defending champions and title favourites Australia has brought Bangladesh back on earth and it is now time for introspection. They had the one win (Apart from Bermuda) - and a deserving one too - over India in the group phase at Port-of-Spain, but in the Super 8s, they looked completely out of depth against the Aussies.

It is not Bangladesh's fault, most other sides would have felt the same heat given the power-paced performance of Ricky Ponting's side so far.

Against New Zealand, the tigers will come up against another professional, focused well-drilled outfit that has overcome the injury-inflicted losses of Lou Vincent, Ross Taylor and Darryl Tuffey to produce a clinical performance against the West Indies in a seven-wicket win here on Thursday.

Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond are all in good form which they displayed against the host. More than the individual performances, it was their disciplined showing that spoke volumes of their determination and must have rattled their rivals.

Bangladesh did pull off a shock win over the Kiwis in a warm-up game, but that was afterall a practice match, played and done with.

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