MOUNT MAUNGANUI: Ebadot Hossain bowled Bangladesh to the brink of a historic victory over world Test champions New Zealand in a fiery spell on Tuesday on the fourth day of the first cricket Test.

On a pitch on which Bangladesh and New Zealand collectively amassed 786 runs in their first innings with the tourists taking a 130-run lead Ebadot reduced New Zealand to 147-5 at stumps, a lead of only 17 runs.

After dismissing first innings century-maker Devon Conway for 13, Ebadot removed Will Young (69), Henry Nicholls (0) and Tom Blundell (0) in the space of six balls in the final session to put the tourists on the brink of a major upset despite their poor catching on the penultimate day.

“The first thing to know about Ebadot as a person is that he only came to cricket about five years ago,” Bangladesh’s West Indies-born bowling coach Ottis Gibson said. “He won a fast-bowling competition somewhere and two years later he was playing international cricket. He’s a joy to work with because he’s enthusiastic and he wants to learn so much. When his confidence is high he can bowl spells like this.”

New Zealand were just hanging on at stumps in the face of Ebadot’s aggressive swing bowling. Veteran Ross Taylor, playing his last Test series, was batting on 37 with all-rounder Rachin Ravindra on six at the other end.

Bangladesh haven’t won any of their previous 43 matches in New Zealand across all three formats and weren’t expected to test New Zealand in this match in the absence of veteran players such as Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah.

But the tourists have steadily got on top of New Zealand, and Ebadot rammed home their advantage on Tuesday, finishing the day with figures of 4-39.

New Zealand batting coach Luke Ronchi said all his side could do now was bat for as long as possible on the final day.

“Bangladesh have had the upper hand on us for quite a massive part of this Test” he said. “We’ve got to get a lead that’s sufficient enough to defend. Ross and Rachin will have to start the innings off again and play nice and straight. Tomorrow we’ve got to play a positive style of cricket, making sure we are scoring a few runs, not just trying to bat the day out.”

Earlier, Bangladesh resumed on 401-6 and the lower order batted 20-odd overs before being all out for 458 in the first match of the two-Test series.

Number eight batsman Mehidy Hasan made 47 while Trent Boult (4-85) and Neil Wagner (3-101) claimed the bulk of the wickets for the hosts.

Bangladesh returned to claim two wickets in the second session to put New Zealand under pressure.

Leading the side in the absence of the injured Kane Williamson, Tom Latham dragged a delivery from Taskin Ahmed onto his stumps to depart for 14.

Ebadot removed Conway for 13 and it could have been a full-blown crisis for New Zealand had Liton not spilled Young, then on 31, after off-spinner Mehidy had produced an edge.

Mehidy suffered more heartbreak when he induced a slog-sweep from Taylor but Shadman Islam floored the catch at square leg.

New Zealand had just erased the deficit when Ebadot dismissed Young, Nicholls and Blundell in quick succession.

Taylor was dropped by Shadman off Mehidy when he was 17 but survived to stumps as New Zealand’s main hope of a defensible lead on the final day.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND (1st innings) 328

BANGLADESH (1st innings; overnight 401-6):

Shadman Islam c and b Wagner 22

Mahmudul Hasan Joy c Nicholls b Wagner 78

Najmul Hossain Shanto c Young b Wagner 64

Mominul Haque lbw Boult 88

Mushfiqur Rahim b Boult 12

Liton Das c Blundell b Boult 86

Yasir Ali c Blundell by Jamieson 26

Mehidy Hasan Miraz c Blundell b Southee 47

Taskin Ahmed lbw Southee 5

Shoriful Islam b Boult 7

Ebadot Hossain not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-8, NB-3, W-7, PEN-5) 23

TOTAL (all out, 176.2 overs) 458

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-43 (Shadman), 2-147 (Najmul), 3-184 (Mahmudul), 4-203 (Mushfiqur), 5-361 (Mominul), 6-370 (Liton), 7-445 (Mehidy), 8-450 (Yasir), 9-458 (Taskin).

BOWLING: Southee 38-4-114-2 (1w), Boult 35.2-11-85-4 (1w), Jamieson 35-11-78-1 (4w), Wagner 40-9-101-3 (1w, 3nb), Ravindra 28-5-67-0.

NEW ZEALAND (2nd innings)

T. Latham b Taskin 14

W. Young b Ebadot 69

D. Conway c Shadman b Ebadot 13

R. Taylor not out 37

H. Nicholls b Ebadot 0

T. Blundell lbw Ebadot 0

R. Ravindra not out 6

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-4, NB-1, W-1) 8

TOTAL (for five wkts, 63 overs) 147

TO BAT: K.Jamieson, T. Southee, N. Wagner, T. Boult.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-29 (Latham), 2-63 (Conway), 3-136 (Young), 4-136 (Nicholls), 5-136 (Blundell).

BOWLING: Taskin 9-1-22-1 (1w, 1nb), Shoriful 11-1-30-0, Mehidy 22-5-43-0, Ebadot 17-4-39-4, Mominul 4-0-7-0.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2022