After gaining a 1-0 lead, New Zealand ended up losing the three-match ODI series against Bangladesh, but their fringe players will be better for the experience in challenging conditions. This was the assessment of head coach Rob Walter after New Zealand, in the absence of senior players who are away at the IPL or PSL, wrapped up the ODI leg of the tour amid the unforgiving heat in Chattogram.
"There's no downside to that type of experience for the players - whether they do well or poorly," Walter said on Friday. "Because there's so much to learn from it. So the skills get put under pressure by a good team. You either find your way through or not...but whatever happens as long as you're learning individually and as a collective, there will definitely be some massive learnings around those guys who have sat in the wings or waited for opportunities and then exposed to a quality opposition in testing conditions."
Walter counted Will O'Rourke's workout across three matches in varied conditions in Dhaka and Chattogram as one of the major positives. Returning to action after an eight-month layoff, O'Rourke, was particularly impressive in the third ODI in Chattogram. The towering quick kept banging the ball away on a hard length and took out Bangladesh's top three inside the powerplay. He hit speeds close to 140kph and though he didn't complete his quota of ten overs in any game, he showed glimpses of his hit-the-deck hustle and ability to move the ball off the pitch.
"We've seen some nice performances - Will O'Rourke back on the field and bowling well again," Walter said. "He got better and better with every game that he played.
"We were managing him as best as we can. We had a sort of how many overs we wanted him to cover in this period. Obviously, the heat was a factor that we were aware of, but you can't quantify it, really. So, it was being aware of how we wanted to use Will with a far bigger picture in mind. So, it was a massive victory given the injury he has come back from and given the way he bowled."
Nick Kelly, 32, picked in the ODI side ahead of younger openers, took his chance and produced back-to-back half-centuries. He paced his innings fairly well in New Zealand's chase of 266 on a tricky surface in the third game before Mustafizur Rahman cut his innings short at 59 off 80 balls, thanks to some variable bounce. Walter was pleased with what he saw of Kelly and backed him to improve his game further.
"Often the early parts of the innings are tricky when there's bounce or lateral movement, so being strong technically and mentally is important. Nick has been a strong performer and has scored Ford Trophy hundreds as well," Walter said. "He's been a strong performer for a couple of years. It's been difficult to get opportunity and good when these ones present themselves. Then you see how guys are challenged. He was challenged and I thought he managed himself pretty well, given the physical toll of batting in these conditions and he will walk away going: 'I've got areas in my game that need to be better at international level for me to be able to attack the game earlier potentially'.
"It wasn't through lack of intent. There were parts in the powerplay where the guys were showing intent and using their feet. We missed out on a couple of wide ones - not that we left them. We tried to put them away, but the variable bounce got us."
With more than fifty New Zealand players currently in Asia, including at an A tour of Sri Lanka and the franchise leagues, Walter sees the winter as an opportunity to expose some of their younger players to a higher level and expand the talent pool for the home summer.
"There's no downside to strengthening the group of players that you can select from," Walter said. "The national team will be put under pressure for varying reasons from a selection point of view and saying having guys who have got international experience under their belt is critical.
"I joked last night in the team meeting that in your team photo we have someone with four caps sitting in the front row. So, that would be a first, I think so. So, we keep building experience and it's never nice to lose. But if we sort of park the result on the side and we are walking away stronger for it for sure."
Even within this patchwork side in Bangladesh, New Zealand have had to deal with injuries and manage O'Rourke's return to play, but they found ways to compete with Bangladesh. Blair Tickner missed the third ODI with an ankle niggle and left-arm seamer Ben Lister, who replaced him, took two wickets though he was expensive. Seam-bowling allrounder Kristian Clarke, who had split the webbing on his right hand during the A tour in Sri Lanka, has been sidelined from the Bangladesh tour.
In Clarke's absence, the Black Caps handed an opportunity to Wellington's left-arm seam-bowling allrounder Muhammad Abbas, who has been identified as a player with a high ceiling. Abbas will remain with the squad for the start of the T20I series while tearaway Ben Sears will link up with the Black Caps after finishing his PSL commitments with Rawalpindiz.
"It was good that he got a nice run with the ball yesterday and again five overs on the trot was a good test in the heat," Walter said of Abbas. "But I thought he bowled really well and sort of managed to restrict the guys relatively well in a phase they were starting to find some momentum.
"From a batting point of view, we've seen Mo at domestic level and we know that he's a guy of high potential. The last two knocks that he's been exposed to would have really given him some great information from his own game point of view as to where he might need to stretch it and improve and grow. Allrounders who are genuine allrounders give you flexibility in the way that you line them up and balance. For him to keep developing both sets of his skills will be critically important to the Black Caps."