Mark Greatbatch comes hard over his team for Bangladesh debacle
Mark Greatbatch, the New Zealand coach, has slammed the efforts of his players in Bangladesh, proclaiming that they "played like dicks". Greatbatch also blasted the top order of New Zealand line-up saying that some of the batsmen were
not at all good, and that the Bangladesh debacle was unjustifiable.
New Zealand, in its final stage of 2011 World Cup preparations in subcontinent, will tour http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 to play a three-match Test series followed by five One Day Internationals. The Test series begins in Ahmedabad next Thursday. The New Zealand
coach was hopeful that his players can use the five-dayers against Dhoni’s men to regain some form and pride after the embarrassing 4-0 whitewash in the hands of Bangladesh, which prompted some urgent meetings between the tour management and senior officials
of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 Cricket Board.
"When you play badly like that you've got to front up," said Greatbatch while talking to the media reporters. "It's very devastating. We played like dicks really and I suppose there's one positive thing, we've got a chance next week
to actually put it right.”
He blamed the top order batsmen for underperforming during the winless tour. He urged the players to get their minds right and follow the situation, “...sometimes that requires patience, sometimes it requires being aggressive. What
it requires is actually sorting out the cricket smarts and weighing up the situation that you're playing in and we've got some work to do in all those areas."
Brendon McCullum is the major cause of concern for the New Zealand top order. He totalled just 86 in his four one-day innings against Bangladesh. There were talks that the players would come under microscope following the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747
debacle. McCullum said that he has no surprise over it as it is the expected reaction after a team does not perform well.
"I guess when you lose 4-0 in Bangladesh you can't come home and expect a parade," said McCullum. "We didn't play well and we've just got to cop it sweet. There's no point in crying into your beer about it. You've just got turn the
page and move on to the next tour. As long as we learn some lessons it'll probably be good for us. It could be the best or worst thing that could happen."
After the Ahmedabad Test, Kiwis will head to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hyderabad-c792 and Nagpur for two more Tests. Greatbatch said that looking at India's strong record at home, two draws in the three-match series would be an encouraging result.
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