|
|
|
| December 27, 2001 | Thursday | Shawwal 11, 1422 |
Bangladesh struggle
WELLINGTON, Dec 26: Bangladesh, who lost the first Test by an innings and 52 runs, continued to struggle against New Zealand as they were dismissed for 132 on the first day of the second Test Wednesday.
At stumps New Zealand were 72 without loss, with opener Mark Richardson on 38 and Matt Horne on 30.
Bangladesh were on the back foot from the second over of the morning when Chris Cairns had Javed Omar caught for a duck.
In the same over Cairns also dismissed Habibul Bashar, caught by Mathew Sinclair at second slip for six.
A third-wicket partnership of 43 between Aminul Islam and Al-Shariar repaired some of the damage. But once these two were separated there was a steady stream of Bangladesh wickets.
Aminul top-scored with a 134-ball 42, before offering a chance to Lou Vincent at gully off the bowling of Shane Bond.
It was a relatively dull affair in front of 6,000 sun-drenched Basin Reserve onlookers, most taking a restful Boxing Day with little action to cause much excitement.
New Zealand, long the Test cricket bunny, is dutifully playing the tourists who show little sign at this stage of bothering the home side much.
Despite its status as New Zealand cricket’s flagship day of Test cricket, mismatched opponents made for a disappointing spectacle.
Last year’s first day was also a let-down as New Zealand crawled to 190 for four at stumps against Zimbabwe, although the previous two Tests provided memorable first days against the West Indies and India.
Wednesday, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming put Bangladesh in to bat on a dry pitch with an uneven spread of grass after being covered for much of the past week.
Bangladesh, though, were never comfortable against an accurate, patient attack which took 64 overs to finish the innings just after the tea break.
While they lasted longer than their previous two efforts in the innings loss in Hamilton last week, Bangladesh scored at little more than two runs per over as New Zealand bowlers — led by spearheads Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori — strangled the run rate.
The Bangladeshi batsmen’s liking for sparring at the ball outside off stump was again shown up, with six batsmen perishing to catches behind the wicket.
Lou Vincent snapped up three of them — one a brilliant diving effort in the gully — and added a smart piece of work to run out a stranded Sanwar Hossain.
New Zealand bowlers improved again on their first-Test efforts in Hamilton, with Cairns taking three for 24 off 15 consistent overs to take his Test wicket tally to 192.
He had a confident caught-behind appeal turned down by Australian umpire Daryl Harper off the first ball of the day to Javed Omar.
Cairns quickly removed Omar and first Test stand-out Habibul Bashar, but Bangladesh recovered to 60 for three at lunch.
Their only saviour was No. 4 Aminul Islam who batted from the third to the 47th over for 42, although he survived a confident bat-pad catch appeal off Vettori on 27 which was turned down by umpire Brent Bowden.
When Aminul departed with the score at 92 for five it was all over, with the recalled Chris Drum chiming in with two late wickets in his second Test.
Vettori bowled unchanged for 25 overs into the stiff northerly wind and had more than one confident appeal rejected by Bowden.
Scoreboard
BANGLADESH (1st Innings):
Javed Omar c Vincent b Cairns 0
Al-Shariar c Bond b Vettori 18
Habibul Bashar c Sinclair b Cairns 6
Aminul Islam c Vincent b Bond 42
M. Ashraful c Fleming b Cairns 11
Sanwar Hossain run out 10
Khaled Mahmud c Parore b Drum 10
Khaled Mashud not out 10
Hasibul Hossain c Vincent b Drum 4
Manjurul Islam b Vettori 0
Masrafe bin Mortaza run out 8
EXTRAS (LB-4, W-1, NB-8) 13
TOTAL (all out, 64 overs) 132
FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-6, 3-49, 4-81, 5-92,
6-108, 7-114, 8-118, 9-119.
BOWLING: Cairns 15-7-24-3 (2nb); Bond
13-4-21-1 (2nb); Drum 11-1-26-2 (3nb); Vettori 25-6-57-2 (1nb).
NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings):
M.H. Richardson not out 38
M.J. Horne not out 30
EXTRAS (LB-3, NB-1) 4
TOTAL (for no wkt, 24 overs) 72
TO BAT: L. Vincent, S.P. Fleming, M.S. Sinclair, C.D. McMillan, C.L. Cairns, A.C. Parore, D.L. Vettori, S.E. Bond, C.J. Drum.
BOWLING (to-date): Masrafe bin Mortaza
7-1-17-0 (1nb); Manjurul Islam 10-3-21-0; Hasibul Hossain 4-0-24-0; Aminul Islam 3-0-7-0.
UMPIRES: B.F. Bowden (New Zealand) and D.J. Harper (Australia).
TV UMPIRE: D.M. Quested.
MATCH REFEREE: B.N. Jarman (Australia).—AFP/Reuters
|
|
|
|
