When the second day-might match starts at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at 1.30 pm the home crowd will desperately hope that the Tigers' batting, which has been in shambles for the last seven months, clicks for a change.

Bangladesh crashed to 146 in the second one-dayer at the same venue on Friday. But the bowling backed by some inspired fielding sent the holiday crowd into ecstasy before the Black Caps scrape home with a three-wicket victory and thus taking an unassailable 2-0 lead.

The Kiwis led by Daniel Vettori won the first one-day match by 138 runs at Chittagong, where Bangla-desh tumbled to 86, their fourth lowest total.

Young Aftab Ahmed gave something to smile about on Friday night when the 17-year-old led an unexpected fightback with his gentle medium pace that sent shockwaves through the Kiwi camp. His 5-31, the best-ever bowling by a Bangladeshi in the abridged version of the game, gave fresh hopes that if the batsmen can put some runs on the board then the bowlers can make a match out of it.

Wicketkeeper batsman Khaled Mashud will lead the home side in the absence of Habibul Bashar, who broke his left toe in the second match and is ruled out for three weeks.

Bashar's freakish injury promp-ted the selectors to call up out-of-form Alok Kapali.

There was a break in training yesterday and that allowed coach Dav Whatmore and some players including Mashud to enjoy a different game of cricket at the Dhan-mondi Cricket Stadium.

But Mashud was reluctant to speak to the press ahead of the final one-dayer.

"I can't speak to you because the team-management requested me not to say anything," said the 28-year-old stumper, who made some bold remarks after the Test series in Chittagong, in which he blamed the poor domestic structure for Bangladesh's batting woes.

Whatmore was also tight-lipped although it was learnt that there was no such media embargo from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

On the other hand New Zealand camp appeared very relaxed with only four players Franklin, Butler, Adams and Fulton attending a light training session supervised by coach John Bracewell.

But the New Zealand looked disturbed with the way his top-order has been doing in the two previous matches.

"None of us are happy with our batting in last two games. We did things the way we wanted in the two Tests but our one-day performance, especially top order is unsatisfactory," said Bracewell.

He said that they would not take the final match lightly.

"Our mission is not over because tomorrow's match is very important for us. We had a disciplined performance in the Test series but failed to keep it up in the one-dayers. I told the boys to bring back the discipline in the last match before the important Australia series," said the 46-year-old former New Zealand off-break bowler.

He however praised Bangladesh's bowling especially in the second game.

"I think Bangladeshi bowlers did an excellent job defending a modest total," said Bracewell, who highly praised the brilliant bowling of Aftab on Friday.