BLACKCAPS captain Stephen Fleming praised his bowlers after his century completed a nine-wicket win over Bangladesh in Antigua.
Led by man-of-the-match Shane Bond, with two for 15, the New Zealanders had little trouble dealing with the side that gave them a pre-tournament shock in Barbados last month.
Fleming paid tribute to medium pacers Scott Styris and Jacob Oram, who backed up the strike bowler with four and three wickets, respectively.
The duo put in extended shifts after the loss of James Franklin and Michael Mason through illness and injury.
“We played on a very good wicket today and bowled extremely well,” Fleming said. “To restrict a team to that was a great effort.
“That’s where the game was won. It was impressive because we lost two of our main strike bowlers. To then be still able to front up and bowl a side out for 170 was a great effort.
“The guys who are in form have continued to be in good form. Shane comes back and takes wickets, Scotty is doing a good job in the middle and Jake takes up the slack at the top of the order so it’s all working really well for us.”
Bond also praised his fellow bowlers for their contribution.
He said: “The wickets are a little bit different every time you turn up so it’s just a matter of adjusting as fast as you can and using your variation. I think I’m lucky the bowlers as a whole are doing their jobs well so it’s making my job easier.”
Hamish Marshall’s 50 from 54 balls helped boost the team’s progress, completing victory within 30 overs.
He said: “On these wickets you need the time to get the pace of it and get a feel for it. Flem was going well at the other end, the run-rate was up there and it was just a case of getting the partnership going and then upping it once we got in.
“Net run-rate was part of it for sure but winning the game was the essential part and then once we got into a position to up the run-rate, Flem hit a few out of the ground, which was nice.”
Defeated captain Habibul Bashar lamented falling short after a solid start.
The Tigers collapsed from 100 for two to 175 all out in a poor final 20 overs.
“One seventy-five was never enough,” he admitted. “If we could have scored something around 240 or 250 it would have been a good match.”
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