Gardens praised
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/200...1_ntsport.html
AIS cricket captain Moises Henriques has given the thumbs up to Darwin's Gardens Oval pitch.
"It's a very good one-day wicket, I reckon," Henriques said yesterday.
The fast-bowling allrounder led the young guns of the AIS to a win against Bangladesh on Monday in the first of a series of four limited-overs matches.
An astonishing 646 runs were scored and 14 wickets fell in a cracking day's play.
And fans could be in for a repeat dose from 10am today in Game 2 if the pitch stays true.
"There's enough pace in the wicket for the bowlers to get something out of it but the batters can use that as well," Henriques said.
"And there's not too much sideways movement."
Henriques bent his back to take 3-38 in the match.
And fast-bowlers Grant Sullivan and Ben Cutting weren't afraid to drop short.
But Henriques said that, with the exception of left-arm spinner Jon Holland who took 4-43, the AIS bowlers had "execution problems" in the first match.
"We bowled too many four balls but Jon minimised his, which was good," he said.
"Most of the time the wicket wasn't turning but he changed his pace really well.
"He was changing the pace and asking the batter to put pace on the ball as well. I just thought he mixed it up really well and was quite accurate."
Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons was happy with blazing batsman Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Ashraful but said his bowlers need to improve.
"It seems like every time we bowl these days we go for 300," Siddons said. "Our bowlers need to vary it up a bit and hit the right areas more often."
Siddons said tough competition was what the Tigers needed to prepare to tackle Australia at the end of the month - and they were getting it.
"They were very keen to beat us and we are very keen to beat them back," he said. "There is enormous potential in the AIS side and they are going to be competitive for sure. It's good hard cricket and that's what we need to build and improve."
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