New Zealand aim for 3-0, weather permitting

New Zealand are determined to make a clean sweep of Bangladesh when the two sides meet for the third and final one-day international at the Queenstown Events Centre. Inclement summer weather disrupted practice on the eve of the game and more is forecast on game day, but the mood remained upbeat in the home camp.

The hosts go into the clash having already clinched the series 2-0 courtesy a 102-run D/L method win in Napier but John Bracewell, New Zealand's coach, hoped to build on two wins against Bangladesh after disappointing tours to South Africa and Australia.

"Rhythm, momentum going into the Test series, the goal is to continue building confidence and lift of our performance from the other two games - setting the bar a little bit higher each time," he told the New Zealand Herald. "For us, confidence and self-assessment is extremely important. It's not necessarily important what the opposition is doing, it's what we're doing and I think we can still lift the bar."

After struggling in their last two series, New Zealand's batsman put up runs - albeit expectedly - against Bangladesh, chasing 202 with six wickets left and posting 335 for 5. The bowlers were unable to dismiss an out-of-form Bangladesh batting line-up in Napier but Bracewell put faith in his opening pair, Kyle Mills and Chris Martin. Mills has seven wickets in two games, including 4 for 40 in Napier and Martin has conceded less than three runs an over despite not having taken a wicket.

"I've been pleased with the heat with which Chris has bowled. Without Shane Bond, he's our go-to player, and he's still learning the skills [of one-day bowling]," said Bracewell. "He's only played 11 or 12 one-day games [since his debut in 1999] so he's still making the adjustment from that continual line and length at test-match level."

Mark Gillespie, the right-arm medium-pacer, remains a doubt after aggravating his left shoulder in Napier and will be assessed before the match. Michael Mason could get a game on a track that traditionally favours seam bowling. It is unlikely that offspinner Jeetan Patel will play.

A loss to Bangladesh would send New Zealand from third to fourth place on the International Cricket Council's ODI rankings.

Bracewell's opposite number, Jamie Siddons, said his side had no pretensions about upstaging their opposition. "We don't pretend that we're going to compete with New Zealand on a regular basis at this point in time. We are learning, but it's going to take time. They're young players, some are only playing their first or second game of their lives at this level.

"There's a learning curve they have to go through and we're going to suffer some pain. We're suffering that pain now - there's no way around it."

Only Mohammad Ashraful, Aftab Ahmed and Tamim Iqbal have scored fifties in the series and the middle order has generally come a cropper against seam bowling. With two Tests looming, Bangladesh need to pick up their game.

Teams (likely)

New Zealand: 1 Jamie How, 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Peter Fulton, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Scott Styris, 6 Mathew Sinclair, 7 Jacob Oram, 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Michael Mason, 11 Chris Martin.

Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Junaid Siddique, 3 Aftab Ahmed, 4 Mohammad Ashraful, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mehrab Hossain Jnr, 7 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 8 Farhad Reza, 9 Mashrafe Mortaza, 10 Abdur Razzak, 11 Shahadat Hossain.