Joy rues giving ‘occasional bowler’ Phillips so much joy

Bangladesh could have finished the day on top of proceedings against New Zealand in the first Test at Sylhet, but they have themselves to blame for losing too many wickets to poor deliveries and being at 310-9 at stumps.

The biggest shock was perhaps New Zealand's fifth-choice bowler Glenn Phillips being the pick of their bowlers as he ended the day with four wickets.

Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who top-scored with 86 for the hosts called Phillips an 'occasional bowler'.

Joy also admitted that the idea was to attack Phillips because of that but the plan backfired as the 'occasional bowler' did the most damage. 

The way things panned out, even Phillips was bemused with his luck.

He had a rather bemused reaction when he managed to take his first-ever Test wicket off a full toss that Bangladesh's stand-in captain Najmul Hossain Shanto failed to bunt for six.

"I expected my first Test wicket to come a bit differently," he joked in the post-day press conference.

Phillips is dealing with a bit of hip soreness from diving during fielding and his possibility of bowling long spells in this Test moving forward remains up in the air.

Joy on the other hand admitted that Phillips got 'lucky' with the way he got some of his wickets.

One of them was the dismissal of wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan, who he strangled down legside, a delivery which could have gone for four had luck not been on his side.

Speaking of wicketkeeper-batters, Phillips joked that was a tag he wanted to remove for a long time.

He's been bowling well throughout the World Cup with the white ball and he showed his credentials with the red ball on Tuesday.

On the other hand, Joy expressed that Bangladesh's batters tried to play their natural games and that sometimes led to their early downfalls. 

"I don't think this is a difficult wicket. If we defended properly, things could have been different," he said.

He however feels that Bangladesh are in a good position despite everything and  "with the wicket taking turn at times, anything can happen". 

Phillips felt that the match was '50-50' at the end of the first day and there was a lot left to play for.

But at the end of the day, Bangladesh will still feel aggrieved at not being able to fully capitalise on the situation after getting a decent start and being 180-2 at one point.