DHAKA,  -Bangladesh’s fast bowling coach Courtney Walsh urged everybody to have patience on the pace bowlers who looked out-of-sort and jaded in the first Test against New Zealand at Hamilton.

The former Caribbean fast bowler insisted that the pace bowlers shouldn’t be written off for bad performance and the team management should give them enough time to prove their spirit.

Bangladesh’s three-pronged pace attack — formed with Abu Jayed Rahi, Khaled Ahmed and Ebadat Hossain — performed badly because after playing 87 overs in New Zealand’s only innings they took just one wicket. In return they gave away 359 runs in 87 overs. Part time medium bowler Soumya Sarkar was the most successful bowler with 2-68 in 21 overs.

Walsh said that the pacers hardly got any chance to prove themselves, a trend that should be changed.

“You have to give a player the chance to play back to back matches. If you play one Test match here and another Test match there, you will never learn the trade or improve your own game,” Walsh said on Monday at Hamilton.

“One Test match or two Test matches aren’t good enough. Obviously in Bangladesh, it’s spin friendly condition. In last tour, we had new bowling attack, this one is the same. There is no continuity and consistency. We have to pick up three-four guys to look who can make it, especially in overseas tours, and invest in them.”

While Bangladesh’s main pacer Mustafizur Rahman was rested to make him fit physically and stronger for the second Test which will be held from March 8. Ebadat Hossain made his Test debut in New Zealand but he failed to support the team as the fast bowler conceded 149 runs in 30 overs and went wicket-less.

Nevertheless, Walsh refused to give up hopes on him. “In Bangladesh, sometimes you might play or not but when they are away from home, they need to play. So it will be nice for them to get a good run, get a feel what’s happening and then you can see what you have learned. I mean we invested in him two years ago, he came here as a developing player. And then he made his Test debut here. So that’s a good sign.”

When everyone criticized Bangladesh’s bowling, Walsh said that the New Zealand’s batsmen should get their due credit because of their superb batting.

“We have to give credit to the New Zealand and the way they played. I thought they batted very well,” he said. “It’s a very inexperienced attack. We will have to reflect on what we did well and what we didn’t do so well. New Zealand are in their backyard, they know the conditions, I thought they played very well.”