Fleming: beware of Bangladesh

Stephen Fleming has warned New Zealand not to take Bangladesh for granted in the upcoming ODI and Test series. Fleming, the former New Zealand captain, was leading the New Zealand Cricket XI that lost to the Bangladeshis in a charity Twenty20 game in Hamilton.

"If we're tentative, they'll put up a fight," he told the New Zealand Herald after the game. Fleming, who retired from ODIs after the World Cup but is still part of New Zealand's Test team, highlighted the Bangladesh batsmen as the key threat. "They've got good strokemakers," he said. "There's not a lot of fear in some of their players and on their day they can come off - we've seen that in some of the upsets they've caused at World Cups."

Fleming also contrasted the approach of the Bangladesh batsmen with that of New Zealand. "Their batting is probably almost the opposite of where our batting unit is," Fleming admitted. "They seem full of confidence, and they don't really have a lot of fear. The consequence of them playing a bad shot and getting out doesn't seem to be there."