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| December 22, 2001 | Saturday | Shawwal 6, 1422 |
Over-exuberant Test greenhorns battling against New Zealand
HAMILTON, Dec 21: New Zealand was Friday poised to win its first cricket Test against Bangladesh thanks to over-exuberance by the tourists here Friday.
New Zealand’s bowling was mediocre but it was enough to finish off Bangladesh’s first innings for 205 then have them 90 for four at stumps in their follow on.
It left them trailing by 70 runs overall after New Zealand declared their first innings Friday morning at 365 for nine to set the Test greenhorns 216 to avoid automatically batting twice.
There was plenty of action for the crowd of around 1,000 who saw 354 runs scored and 18 wickets fall in the 100 overs bowled on a rare sun-drenched day.
Should the match finish on Saturday — with more fine weather expected — it will be the second consecutive Test in Hamilton to last barely two days after New Zealand’s innings and 185 run-win over Pakistan in March.
Despite useful knocks from Habibul Bashar, debutant Sanuar Hossain and Khaled Mahmud, New Zealand managed to skittle the tourists in 58 overs of entertaining but sometimes reckless batting.
Star allrounder Chris Cairns was still far from his best but improved later on while speedster Shane Bond and spinner Daniel Vettori were the most consistent, Bond taking four for 47 off 13.1 overs.
But it looked for a time as if Bangladesh, who have lost three of their seven Tests by an innings, would mount a spirited fightback and make the New Zealand openers pad up again.
No 3 Bashar looked all class as he flayed 50 off 38 balls including eight fours and a hooked six off Craig McMillan.
He cracked anything loose square of the wicket and completed his fourth consecutive Test half-century after a double of 108 and 76 against Zimbabwe. It was his seventh Test 50 in his eighth match.
But he hit a soft catch on 61 to make it 121 for five and despite a pair of rapid 45s from Hossain and the hard-hitting Mahmud they were just short of the follow-on.
It was more of the same in the second innings as the tourists showed the ills of too much one-day play. Bashar and No 4 Aminul Islam were both removed in consecutive balls by a rejuvenated Cairns and opener Mohammad Al Sahariar had two lives on 39 courtesy of Mathew Sinclair and Adam Parore.
Earlier, opener Mark Richardson’s 143 helped the home side push for a declaration as they added 59 runs and lost four wickets in nine overs.
He scored the 14 runs he needed Friday to reach 1,000 Test runs in his 13th Test and 20th innings. He was one Test short of John Reid’s New Zealand record of 1,000 runs in 12 Tests and 20 innings set in the 1980s.
Richardson’s 356 minute innings came to an end when he charged at 16-year-old medium-pacer Mohammad Sharif and skied a return catch. He faced 191 balls and hit 14 fours for his second Test ton.
Richardson and Cairns added 89 in 72 minutes before Cairns was bowled by Sharif for 48 off 59 balls.
Paceman Masrafe-bin-Mortaza was the pick of the bowlers with three for 100 off 27 overs while Sharif took three wickets in 4.1 overs to end with a Test best three for 114.
New Zealand had some minor injury worries with Nathan Astle off the field almost the entire day with a right wrist injury and Lou Vincent dislocating a finger while stopping a ball. Both were expected to be fit for the second Test next week.
Bangladesh captain Khaled Masud said his players found it difficult batting in New Zealand conditions but still backed them to pull off an unlikely draw on Saturday.
“Some things were lacking in our batting and there was a lack of match practice over five days in these type of conditions. How to leave the ball, and mental application,” Masud said.
“But we’ll try to bat it out, it’s a very good batting wicket.”
Scoreboard
NEW ZEALAND (1st innings)
M.Richardson c & b Sharif 143
L.Vincent c & b Mashrafi 0
M.Sinclair c Masud b Monjurul 7
S.Fleming c Masud b Mashrafi 4
N.Astle c Al-Sahariar b Monjurul 5
C.McMillan c Monjurul b Mashrafi 106
C.Cairns b Sharif 48
A.Parore b Sharif 20
D.Vettori lbw b Mahmud 0
S.Bond not out 4
EXTRAS (b-2, lb-18, w-5, nb-3) 28
TOTAL (for nine wickets declared) 365
DID NOT BAT: C. Martin
FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-19, 3-29, 4-51, 5-241, 6-330, 7-357, 8-359
BOWLING: Mashrafi 27-3-100-3 (w-3,nb-1), Monjurul 18-5-66-2, Sharif 20.1-2-114-3 (w-1,nb-2), Mahmud 9-0-40-1 (w-1), Ashraful 3-0-25-0
BANGLADESH (1st innings)
J.Omar c Richardson b Cairns 9
M.Al-Sahariar c Sinclair b Bond 15
H.Bashar c Martin b Vettori 61
A.Islam c Parore b Bond 14
M.Ashraful c Sinclair b Vettori 1
S.Hossein c Vincent b McMillan 45
K.Masud c Bond b McMillan 6
K.Mahmud c Richardson b Bond 45
M.Sharif b Martin 0
M.bin-Mortaza lbw b Bond 3
M.Islam not out 0
EXTRAS (lb-1, nb-5) 6
TOTAL (all out) 205
FALL OF WKTS: 1-24, 2-32, 3-92, 4-95, 5-121, 6-146, 7-155, 8-156, 9-204
BOWLING: Cairns 11-0-55-1 (nb-2), Bond 13.1-2-47-4 (nb-2), Martin 11-4-38-1 (nb-1), McMillan 8-1-39-2, Vettori 15-4-25-2
BANGLADESH (2nd innings)
J.Omar lbw b Martin 15
M.Al-Sahariar not out 53
H.Bashar c Parore b Cairns 1
A.Islam b Cairns 0
M.Ashraful c sub b Bond 6
S.Hossein not out 7
EXTRAS (lb-4, nb-4) 8
TOTAL (four wickets, 33 overs) 90
FALL OF WKTS: 1-39, 2-42, 3-42, 4-68
BOWLING: Cairns 12-0-46-2(nb-4), Bond 8-2-17-1, Martin 4-1-6-1, Vettori 9-4-17-0.
—AFP/Reuters
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