DHAKA: Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan will not take victory for granted when his home team clashes with the West Indies in a must-win World Cup match Friday. The West Indies, which has not played on Bangladeshi soil since 2002, suffered a 3-0 defeat by the Tigers at home two years ago when the top players went on strike due to a pay dispute. Shakib ruled out another easy win in the day-night match at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, which neither team can afford to lose after securing one win each from their first two Group B games. “The West Indies did not have their main players in that series, but they are back now which makes them a very good side,” he said. “We will have to be at our best to beat them. I am confident we can win, but for that to happen we must play good cricket.” Bangladesh came back after losing the tournament opener to India by 87 runs to down Ireland by 27 runs despite being bowled out for a modest 205. The West Indies bounced back in even greater style after the seven-wicket defeat to South Africa, thrashing the Netherlands by a massive 215 runs in New Delhi Monday. Shakib said Ireland's sensational win over England in Bangalore Wednesday night had thrown open the race for the quarterfinals. “It definitely makes it wide open,” Shakib said. “No team can afford to lose from here.” Unheralded Ireland stunned England by three wickets after Kevin O'Brien smashed the fastest century in World Cup history off 50 balls to help his team race past a daunting target of 328. “I am not sure how much tougher the Irish win will make our chances of qualifying for the quarterfinals,” said Shakib. “It will benefit us only if we beat England next week. All I know is that we have to play well to win against any team.” Shakib said 300-plus scores would not be easy on the slow Sher-e-Bangla wicket, even though India piled up 370-4 in the opener and Bangladesh replied with 283-9. “The wicket here is not that easy to bat on,” he said. “I also think there will be more spin this time than in our previous two games.” Bangladesh will name its playing XI before the toss, Shakib said, adding that all-rounder Mohammad Mahmudullah had been included in a short-list of 12 along with the side that beat Ireland. Kiwis aim to master spin after flunking pace test In Mumbai, New Zealand batsmen flunked its first Test against raw pace dished out by champion Australia a week ago but Friday's trial against nagging spin will probably signal the tenure of its World Cup campaign. The build-up has been tough for New Zealand, which faces Zimbabwe in Group A Friday, with the team being whitewashed by Bangladesh and India before it lost a home series against Pakistan. The Kiwis have seen it all in the tournament so far with a thumping win against lowly Kenya and the humbling at the hands of champion Australia. While New Zealand's pacemen made sure their batsmen had almost nothing to chase against Kenya, some fiery fast bowling from Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait left the Kiwis reeling on 73-6. “It's probably been the part of our game that we haven't been happy with and we have to continue to look to rectify,” captain Daniel Vettori, who has often donned the role of savior with the bat lower down the order, summed up without mincing any words. While the team management had tried to strengthen the batting order against Australia by drafting in Jamie How for all-rounder Jacob Oram, it failed to work. “We wanted to strengthen our batting. We knew Australia will come in at us with pace and we wanted somebody who can play pace well during the change of ball at the 34-over mark,” Vettori explained. “Jamie can play pace very well but that gamble didn't work for us.” New Zealand can rest assure that there will be hardly any pace to deal with. The challenge will be a little different, though probably as difficult, against Zimbabwe's army of miserly tweakers who had even managed to keep the mighty Australians under check initially. The problem for Vettori is that no critic will ever doubt the potential of a batting order which boasts of Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor as the top four. But, of late, on most occasions the batting has crumbled at once and it's absolutely crucial for New Zealand's campaign that at least two out of the four spend some quality time at the crease. Batsman Ross Taylor also said New Zealand will be taking nothing for granted against Zimbabwe. “Last night we saw Ireland, they can upset big teams,” Taylor told a news conference. “I am not saying Zimbabwe are a small team, but they have been out of cricket for some time.”
