This article originally appeared on stuff.co.nz and is reproduced with permission
Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana has criticised the unsafe playing conditions in Dunedin, New Zealand against the White Ferns, arguing play should have been stopped in the second innings.
New Zealand overcame the Dunedin weather to crush Bangladesh by nine wickets on Monday in a rain-reduced 27-over contest, which finally got underway after a four-hour delay.
READ MORE: What Ricky Ponting wishes he told Shane Warne
READ MORE: Judo federation removes titles from Vladimir Putin
READ MORE: Bill Lawry remembers Shane Warne, pays tribute to Rod Marsh
It was an important victory for the White Ferns after making a forgettable start to the tournament on Friday, losing a three-run thriller to the West Indies.
A washed-out match against Bangladesh would have been a nightmare start to the World Cup for New Zealand – one they managed to avoid.
Bangladesh skipper Sultana hit out about the conditions at the post-match press conference. She questioned why Australian umpires Paul Wilson and Claire Polosak hadn’t taken the teams from the field in the second innings when the drizzle returned with Bangladesh trying to defend 140.
She believed player safety needed to be the top priority and said the damp outfield at the University Oval was unplayable.
“Firstly, I would like to say [that] this is not good, playable condition, because there was a lot of rain over there, but still we played over there,” Sultana said.
“Sometimes the bowlers couldn’t grip the ball, and the boundary fielders couldn’t watch the ball very well. And I was a bit worried about the safety of my fielders because we have five more matches to go. So it was very difficult for us to play in this kind of condition.”
Sultana consulted with Wilson and Polosak during New Zealand’s innings but was told the match would continue. Bangladesh planned to express their concerns to Indian match referee GS Lakshmi.
With Bangladesh only having a limited number of reserve players in their squad in New Zealand and not able to fly out a replacement if injury struck, she said it could have put them in a difficult spot.
“When we were on the ground, we asked the umpires whether we would be continuing the game in these conditions, and they kept saying that we should continue. On the field, there was nothing more I could do,” she said.
“But we are concerned, so off the field, we can do what we can, speak to whoever we can, and see how we can minimise the risk. We will let the match referee know that the conditions were such that… what should be done to make it better the next time.”
Sultana stressed Bangladesh weren’t blaming their performance on the difficult conditions but wanted to avoid a similar situation happening again at the tournament.
“If you think this is an excuse, then no. When it was the first innings, there was rain then too, but it was not [the same].
“During the first innings, the rain was not that heavy, the conditions were much better, at least when we batted. When we bowled and fielded, the rain was much heavier.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!