BRIDGETOWN, March 7: New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming offered no excuses after his side became the first of the fancied nations for the World Cup to lose a warm-up game on Tuesday.They were beaten by Bangladesh by two wickets with an over to spare at the 3Ws Stadium just outside Bridgetown after tail-ender Mashrafe Mortaza blasted three sixes in a whirlwind 30 from 14 balls to chase down a 227 target.

The Kiwis were undone by positive batting early and late in the innings from Bangladesh who clearly fancied their chances after limiting New Zealand to 226 all out with four balls remaining.

They started in style with 17-year-old Tamim Iqbal tearing into the Kiwi attack with a quickfire 46 from 48 balls including a huge six off Daniel Vettori.

Javed Omar weighed in with 45 but after those two had departed the Bangladesh innings looked destined to fall narrowly short until the late assault from fast bowler Mashrafe.

Earlier, the 28-year-old Jacob Oram had repaired the New Zealand innings at 75 for six when he and Brendon McCullum constructed a seventh-wicket 105-run partnership.

Oram, who was playing with a broken left-hand finger, plundered 88 before he was caught at long-on by Syed Rasel off Abdur Razzak.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND:

L. Vincent b Mashrafe 4

S.P. Fleming c Razzak b Rasel 0

R.L. Taylor c Mushfiqur b Mashrafe 11

S.B. Styris c Ashraful b Razzak 26

P.G. Fulton lbw b Mashrafe 3

J.D.P. Oram c Rasel b Razzak 88

C.D. McMillan c and b Razzak 5

B.B. McCullum run out 46

D.L. Vettori c Javed Omar b Razzak 8

J.E.C. Franklin not out 12

S.E. Bond b Mashrafe 4

EXTRAS (LB-8, W-3, NB-6) 17

TOTAL (all out 47.2 overs) 224

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-13, 3-21, 4-34, 5-60, 6-75, 7-180, 8-192, 9-218.

DID NOT BAT: M.J. Mason, J.S. Patel.

BOWLING: Mashrafe Mortaza 9.2-2-44-4 (2nb); Syed Rasel 8-1-17-1 (2nb); Shahadat Hossain 1-0-12-0 (2nb); Abdur Razzak 10-1-26-4 (1w); Saqibul Hasan 10-0-49-0 (2w); Tapash Baisya 6-0-42-0; Rajin Saleh 3-0-14-0.

BANGLADESH:

Javed Omar b Vettori 45

Tamim Iqbal st McCullum b Vettori 46

Aftab Ahmed lbw b Vettori 0

Saqibul Hasan c McCullum b Patel 19

Habibul Bashar run out 20

Mohammad Ashraful lbw b Franklin 29

Mushfiqur Rahim c Styris b Bond 19

Rajin Saleh c Vincent b Franklin 7

Mashrafe Mortaza not out 30

Abdur Razzak not out 4

EXTRAS (W-4, NB-7) 11

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 49 overs) 230

FALL OF WKTS: 1-85, 2-85, 3-104, 4-133, 5-143, 6-176, 7-192, 8-199.

DID NOT BAT: Tapash Baisya, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel.

BOWLING: Franklin 8-0-54-2 (3nb, 1w); Bond 9-0-59-1 (1nb, 1w); Mason 5-0-15-0; Patel 10-0-40-1; Vettori 10-0-38-3 (3nb, 2w); Oram 5-1-14-0; Styris 2-0-10-0.

RESULT: Bangladesh won by two wickets.

UMPIRES: M.R. Benson (England) and S.J. Davis (Australia).—Agencies