There are beautiful things a cricketer can do when things are going their way. A fine bit of wristwork that takes the ball to the midwicket boundary, or the perfectly pitched offbreak that cuts between bat and pad and hits the top of off stump. For Dean Foxcroft, both happened in the first ODI against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Friday.
He struck the ball beautifully on his way to a maiden half-century, a crucial knock in a stop-and-start New Zealand innings. Then, in his first bowl in international cricket, he took the big wicket of Litton Das just as Bangladesh were looking to turn the corner in their 248-run chase. The wicket changed the complexion of the game, which New Zealand eventually won by 27 runs.
Foxcroft said that after speaking to Jayden Lennox and captain Tom Latham, he figured out that he should give the ball a good rip with a bit of pace, as the wicket had become more helpful for spinners in the second half.
"I was obviously very happy with [the wicket] in my first bowl in international cricket," Foxcroft said afterwards. "It was just about understanding how we're going to bowl on that wicket and what's going to work for us as a bowling unit. We thought the best way is to bowl quickly [with] a bit of turn. As soon as the lights came on, we thought the wicket will spin a bit more. I just thought I'd let it go, and it felt good. It was my first international wicket, so we'll take that."
Foxcroft, however, is a batter first. So the half-century in only his second ODI was pleasing to the 27-year-old. Also because his only previous ODI was also at the same venue, in 2023.
"I remember I came to bat at three, and Shoriful [Islam] got me through the gate," Foxcroft said. "It was a different role today, batting at six. I was happy to survive my first ball. Then all the nerves have slowed down a little bit. You have just got to look past it and focus on today and the games coming up."
This is his fourth tour of Bangladesh, after having played here in 2016 for South Africa at the Under-19 World Cup. Then, after 2023, Foxcroft returned for the 2025 'A' series. But, despite all the experience in Bangladesh, Foxcroft had turned to the senior batters in his team for help.
"Everyone's got great knowledge on how to play on these wickets," he said. "Guys like Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls and Will Young played a lot of cricket. So it's obviously very important for myself and other young guys as well, trying to learn from those guys and ask good questions on how to play spinners and even the seamers on these wickets.
"I think the wicket played beautifully. I think in the past, the boys had mixed messages about how the wicket was going to play. Credit to the training wickets as well. We thought the training wickets were pretty good, and it's quite similar to the wicket in the middle.
"It's just making sure we adapt to the best ability we can. And again, it's just communication from our batting unit, and making sure we keep the communication up, and everyone making sure we're on the same page on how we're going to play on that wicket."
Foxcroft said that New Zealand, depleted because many of their premier players are in action at the IPL and the PSL, felt that a score of around 240 would suffice. They got 247. Bangladesh were on target in their chase before slowing down in the middle part, and then imploding in the end.
"We thought it's going to be tricky at the start. We wanted to make sure that we read the wicket quite well," Foxcroft said. "I think when I was out in the middle, I asked the question what's going to be possible and I think the boys said anything around 240-plus will be good for us. We knew it was going to be tough for them to chase it."
