Bangladesh aims to improve in Pakistan series

Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons said Thursday he hoped his team would put up a better show in the second match against Pakistan here following an embarrassing defeat in the series opener.

The tourists were thrashed by 152 runs in the first of five matches in Lahore on Tuesday. The teams next meet Friday.

"It was a bit embarrassing to lose by that margin and we need to lift ourselves, but it is always tough against a team like Pakistan,"

said Siddons, blaming two power failure stoppages for derailing his team's run-chase.

Two power outages, stopping play for 48 minutes in all, saw Bangladesh's target revised from 323 to 282 in 39 overs, which proved beyond their reach after a poor start.

Bangladesh finally folded at 129 in 29.5 overs.

"At the start, we were chasing six plus an over but after lights went off twice we were left chasing nine an over, which proved tough,"

Siddons said.

Bangladesh surprisingly left out their front-line fast bowlers Shahadat Hossain and Syed Rasel -- a move Siddons admitted backfired.

"We were one bowler short and that cost us dearly. The fifth bowler cost us nearly 106 runs in ten overs. But one slip does not make a series,"

said Siddons, who took over as coach last year.

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik said Bangladesh was a quality opponent.

"They are a good side and we are not taking them lightly,"

said Malik of the Bangladesh team, who are here as a replacement to Australia, which postponed their Pakistan tour over security fears.

"At least we are playing some cricket, which is better than not having cricket at all. We did some experiments against Zimbabwe, and now we will do more against Bangladesh, and these will help us in the future."