The Black Caps have somehow managed to save themselves from [complete] humiliation in the first Test against Bangladesh, with a three wicket win over the home side.

This was a Test the Black Caps should have won easily, but they struggled against the spin attack of the Bangladesh bowlers, and even struggled to dismiss the tail end of the Bangladesh batting lineup.

Going into the last innings the Black Caps needed 317 runs to win, and it was going to take one hell of an effort for them to chase down the total. It was always going to be possible, but several of the Black Cap batsmen would need to do their job [for once].

Aaron Redmond, Jaime How and Jesse Ryder all chimed in to get the innings off to a good start, with Redmond going on to make 79 in what was a good platform for the middle order.

Vettori came in as night watchman when Ryder got run out at the end of day four, which turned out to be the best decision the Black Caps made the whole Test. Vettori and Redmond continued to push towards the 317 run target at the beginning of day five, and everything was going well until Redmond got himself caught only 21 runs away from his first century.

Then, the wheels began to fall off.

(What? Off the Black Caps? Noooooo.)

Taylor went cheaply, before McCullum was given out lbw in what could easily be the worst decision of the century. The ball pitched way outside leg, and it wouldn't have even come close to hitting the stumps. Not that that's relevant when the ball pitches outside leg, but it just made the decision that much worse. It's yet another case for the need to have video umpires step in when poor decisions are made.

The Black Caps looked to be falling into old traps, and with only Vettori, Oram and Flynn left (of the notable batsmen...) the game was hanging in the balance.

Fortunately for the Black Caps, Daniel Flynn came out and played the best innings of his short career, as he and Vettori got the Black Caps back on track and heading towards the winners circle.

Both batsmen were eventually dismissed (Vettori 76, Flynn 49), but they had already done enough to secure the win.

Flynn showed a lot of patience as he helped tick the score over just enough to keep the Black Caps on target. It was by no means the most exciting cricket to watch, but in the scheme of things it was what was needed at the time.

Vettori was without a doubt New Zealand's best player, as he chalked up his second half century of the match, and took nine wickets - becoming only the second captain in history to score a fifty in each innings and take four wickets per innings. That's impressive.

The only problem is that he usually bats at 8 or 9, and he's easily our best batsman at the moment. Says a bit about the guys above him, really...

Bangladesh will rue their chance to beat an established Test playing nation, but they did not play as well on the final day as they had throughout the previous four days. Their field placements were somewhat unusual for a team that needed to take eight wickets in the final day. They have a lot to do to keep improving, but improve they will.

With one more Test to go, it's hard to see the Black Caps performing so poorly again - specially as Bangladesh will be hurting from the loss, and are a team that thrives on confidence, which will be at a low now.

One thing's for sure - if the Black Caps don't improve significantly (SIGNIFICANTLY, LADS) then some changes may well be around the corner. It's time to start impressing the new coach - whoever that may be.

Photo from Flickr - HNM_1977

The Black Cap's poor series in Bangladesh is a worrying sign, especially when you consider the Summer ahead.

And the fact that they're staring down the barrel of a Test loss.

And the fact there's still a Test to go.

Hmmmm.

The Black Caps will face Australia in two Tests and five ODIs (all in Australia), two Tests and five ODIs at home against the West Indies, and the same again against India - not to mention several Twenty20 matches in between.

This is by no means an easy Summer's schedule - in fact, it will be one of the toughest in recent years.

If the ODI series (and quite possibly the first Test match, the way it's going) against Bangladesh is anything to go by, then get ready for a long Summer - because if we play like this against Australia, West Indies or India then we're going to suffer some pretty heavy defeats.

One of the major problems for the Black Caps is that we have a coach, John Bracewell, who has already announced he will be retiring at the end of the Summer, rather than just stepping down now. We feel Bracewell should have been shown the exit at the end of the World Cup, but instead he was retained, and things have continued to go down hill.

New Zealand Cricket should have stepped in when the worrying signs began. We've lost some of our best players during Bracewell's time in charge - Nathan Astle, Craig MacMillan, Shane Bond, Lou Vincent, not to mention Stephen Fleming - all of whom are clearly not done playing cricket, as they all continue to play in the Twenty20 leagues in India.

Obviously there is something that the public are not being told, because we don't buy for one second that these guys left because they were finished with International cricket. Sure, they may have been getting towards the end of their playing days - but they could easily have played on for another few seasons.

I can't wait to read Craig MacMillan's book - we'll finally be able to hear about how the players really got on with Bracewell. From what we've heard, he rips into Bracewell's coaching style...

If only the players actually spoke about these matters at the time, rather than waiting a year or two.

The other problem for the Black Caps is that we've got really talented batters batting out of position. Former Black Cap Simon Doull made a comment about how Brendon McCullum should not be opening the batting - especially with Jesse Ryder at the other end. We, for two, agree - McCullum is far more useful batting at six or seven, where he will be more likely to win us games.

The only times he's won us games opening the batting has been when we've had to chase miserly totals of around 120, where he could go out and swing the bat at everything without any real pressure on him. He's certainly not at his best when he's left to set a total - although for that matter, none of the Black Caps are. McCullum should be batting down the order, where he can close an innings - similar to the way Chris Harris used to. He's capable of scoring quickly, and would be far more effective at the other end of the innings.

The other batting change that needs to be made is Jacob Oram - we feel he needs to come up the order to at least five. Oram is the kind of batsman who needs to get his eye in, and becomes far more useful when he is given the chance to do so. We saw it against Bangladesh where he came in when the pressure was on, and he had to consolidate the innings. Once he had, he unleashed - and the runs piled up. In the third ODI, he came in and needed to start scoring right away - and he got himself out quite quickly.

These are not difficult things to fix, but would be very effective moves to make. But, most importantly (yes, we'll say it again) - they need to get rid of Bracewell as soon as possible, so that the team can start rebuilding under the guidance of a new coach.

The equation was simple - beat Bangladesh in all three one dayers, and move to number two in the One Day rankings.

It should have been an easy task - Bangladesh had just lost a bunch of players to the Rebel League, and were left with only a handful of experienced players.

The Black Caps, on the other hand, were heading into the series with a full strength side (anyone who says we were not at full strength without Chris Martin in the team is having a laugh...seriously), and deserved to be going into the one dayers as heavy favourites.

By the end of the first one dayer, though, all of that was blown out of the water. We were left wondering - firstly, how we could only manage 201 against an average (at best) bowling lineup, and secondly how on earth Bangladesh could chase the miserly total down with seven wickets in hand. It was disgraceful (to put it nicely - that's not what we said at the time, though), and just like the All Blacks at World Cup time, the only word that can be used is 'chokers'.

The Black Caps had a great opportunity to move up the rankings, and they choked.

Let's put it in perspective. The Black Caps are a very good one day side, and have been sitting in the top three or four one day sides for a long time now. Bangladesh, on the other hand, are not very good - and are the bottom-dwellers of the one day rankings.

They have caused some pretty major upsets against the likes of India, Pakistan and even Australia, but the one thing the Black Caps have always been able to say is - "At least we haven't lost to Bangladesh". Well, that's gone down the drain, hasn't it?

The second one dayer wasn't looking that flash, either. The Black Caps struggled on their way to 212/9, and that was only thanks to a brilliant 75* by Jacob Oram. Once again, the top order left the middle to lower order batsmen to clean up their mess - the same old story, really.

It's just unfortunate that Chris Martin wasn't there. Had he been, we might well have scored in excess of 300.

Thankfully, this time the New Zealand bowlers got it spot on - and they dismissed Bangladesh for 137.

(Why didn't we do that first time round, lads?)

Kyle Mills was outstanding, with figures of 3 for 13 off only 6.4 overs, while Oram (who was rightly named man of the match), Southee and Vettori also chipped in with wickets.

The final one dayer is on Tuesday, and the Black Caps need to win. If they don't, they'll become the first side to lose a series to Bangladesh.

Please don't bring THAT record home for the trophy cabinet, boys.

The beauty of sports is that nothing is ever guaranteed. Those who are highly favoured to win don't always do so, and it's moments like these that get the whole world talking.

People love to see the underdog step up and knock the top team off their perch. It's the foundation of nearly every sports movie ever made - the team that everyone thinks has no chance of winning somehow manages to rise to the challenge, and walk away victorious against all odds.

In light of all that, here's our Top 5 Greatest Sporting Upsets:


5. Kiwis vs Kangaroos - rugby league

The 2005 rugby league Tri-Nations final is one Kiwi fans will never forget. It's the day we kept the best team in the world scoreless, beating them 24-0 - and in doing so, claimed one of the greatest upsets in the history of league.

The Kangaroos couldn't have had a worse game if they'd tried. They had 20 handling errors, and completed only 17/32 sets - which, for a team filled with superstars, is a bad day at the office.

The Kiwis, on the other hand, were at their best. They ran in four trys (Whatuira, Vatuvei x2, Webb), and (perhaps even more impressively) held their line, and stopped the Kangaroos from scoring.

Victories against the Aussies in league are few and far between, and this was definitely one of the greatest.


4. New York Giants vs New England Patriots - NFL Super Bowl

The Patriots went into Super Bowl XLII as odds-on favourites to beat the Giants. They had won an amazing 18 games in a row to make it to the Super Bowl, and had beaten the Giants 38-35 in the final game of the regular season. They were only one win away from becoming the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to go through the entire season undefeated.

Going into the final quarter, the Patriots led 7-3 before the Giants finally crossed for a touchdown, taking the lead at 10-7. That was short lived, though, as the Patriots soon responded with another touchdown to reclaim the lead 14-10. And, with time ticking away, they looked like they were about to claim another Super Bowl Championship.

With only 1:15 minutes left on the clock, Eli Manning came up with the play of the game, throwing a 32 yard pass to David Tyree, putting the Giants only 24 yards from the Patriots goal line. Within four plays, and with only 35 seconds left, Manning threw the winning touchdown, caught by Plaxico Burress. The Giants had beaten the Patriots 17-14 - a real upset, and one for the Super Bowl history books.


3. Buster Douglas vs 'Iron Mike' Tyson - boxing

In 1990 Tyson was in the prime of his boxing career, and had a perfect professional record of 37-0 spanning from 1985-1990. Tyson headed to Japan for a fight with James 'Buster' Douglas, a man Tyson was expected to easily defeat.

The odds were quite literally stacked against Buster - the bookmakers had him at 42-1 odds to win the fight. Not the kind of odds a betting man would take.

But Buster put up a fight, and despite being knocked down by a Tyson uppercut in the eighth round, Buster got back to his feet. For the next two rounds, he sent a barrage of heavy punches Tyson's way. In the tenth round Buster finally knocked Tyson down, and the champ never recovered. It was Tyson's first ever defeat as a pro, and the first time he was knocked out.

The man that people thought was unbeatable was finally beaten by a man that no one thought could win.


2. Bangladesh vs Australia - cricket

This has David vs Goliath written all over it - by far the most dominant cricket team in the world vs the whipping boys of international cricket. But this was going to be a game that Bangladesh would never forget.

Australia batted first, and against Bangladesh should have posted 300+. Instead, the Bangladesh bowlers kept the Aussie batsmen to only 249. Well under par for this Australian side, but still a total that should have been far too many for the Bangladesh side to chase.

But, thanks to a brilliant century by Mohammad Ashraful, they somehow managed to chase down the Aussies total with only four balls to spare. In the final over of the game, Aftab Ahmed hit a six off the first ball to tie the scores, followed by a single to win the game.

This is one of the real bright spots of Bangladesh's cricketing history (there haven't been that many...), and a real disgrace for the Aussies.


1. USA vs the USSR - 1980 Winter Olympics - ice hockey

The 'Miracle on Ice' - the US mens ice hockey team went into the gold medal game against the might of the USSR team. Only a few days before the Olympics began, the USSR thrashed the US 10-3 in a warm-up match, which many thought signified the Soviet Union's dominance over ice hockey.

Their team was made up of professional players, while the US team was made up of amateurs and college players - basically, they were kids compared to the Soviet team. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know who should have won...

But by the end of the final, the US had brought down the heavyweights of ice hockey by 4 goals to 3, and in doing so won gold - while the USSR had to settle for the silver.

This win was more than just a sporting victory for the US - you also have to remember that these two mighty nations were in the midst of the Cold War, and so this game was just as much about politics as it was about sport.

This was a major, major upset, and is widely recognised as one of the greatest upsets of all time.