MOUNT MAUNGANUI: Fast bowler Ebadot Hossain took a career-best 6-46 as Bangladesh beat New Zealand for the first time in a Test match at the 16th attempt with a stunning eight-wicket victory over the world Test champions on Wednesday.

The victory was among the biggest shocks in the history of Test cricket as one of the poorest performers in the longest format of the game snapped New Zealand’s 17-match unbeaten streak on home soil.

While New Zealand had beaten all-comers at home since their last loss to South Africa in March 2017, Bangladesh had lost all 21 of their matches in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and England since they started playing Test cricket in 2000.

Ebadot, a former volleyball player who had taken 11 wickets in his 10 previous Tests, led the way as the tourists dismissed the ‘Black Caps’ for 169 early on day five to leave them requiring 40 runs for a famous victory.

After losing both openers in the chase, it was left to captain Mominul Haque and experienced batsman Mushfiqur Rahim to usher Bangladesh to their first victory outside Asia.

A small band of flag-waving Bangladeshis on the Bay Oval boundary celebrated their country’s first win in any format of the game in New Zealand, a victory that gave them a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

“I can’t describe it, it’s unbelievable,” Mominul said. “I couldn’t sleep yesterday because of the pressure. It was very important to win this Test match. I said previously that we need to win these Test matches for our legacy.”

Ebadot took 1-75 in New Zealand’s first innings of 328 but came into his own in the second innings, running through the middle order on Tuesday with the wickets of Devon Conway (13), Henry Nicholls (0), Tom Blundell (0) and Will Young (69). That left New Zealand 147-5 at the start of play Wednesday, only 17 ahead of Bangladesh.

The possibility of any stern resistance by New Zealand, marshalled around veteran batsman Ross Taylor who was 37 not out when play began, quickly dissolved, thanks to Ebadot.

The tall right-armer, who snaps to attention and salutes when he takes a wicket, saluted twice when he bowled Taylor for 40. Then he dismissed Kyle Jamieson to leave New Zealand 160-7. Shoriful pulled off a brilliant diving catch at mid-wicket to complete the second dismissal.

Taskin Ahmed then stepped in to help wrap up the New Zealand innings. He removed the other overnight batsman, all-rounder Rachin Ravindra, for 16. Ravindra had edged a delivery from Ebadot between first slip and the wicketkeeper but this time the edge carried finer to keeper Liton Das.

Taskin bowled Tim Southee (0) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz finished it off with the wicket of Trent Boult, who was brilliantly caught at deep mid-wicket by the substitute Taijul Islam.

“It’s a long story, volleyball player to test cricketer,” Ebadot said. “But I’m a soldier of the Bangladesh Air Force and I know how to salute.

“On New Zealand soil over the last 11 years our brothers and our teams didnt get any wins. But when we came to New Zealand we set a goal. We raised our hands and said ‘Yes, we have to do it and we can do it on New Zealand soil’.

“New Zealand are Test champions so if we raise our hands and beat New Zealand on New Zealand soil our next generation will be able to beat them too.”

Ebadot credits Bangladesh’s West Indies-born bowling coach Ottis Gibson for his transformation as a fast bowler, for urging him to pitch the ball up on off stump. Gibson had noted the Bay Oval wicket was not delivering slip catches, which are common in New Zealand conditions, and he called for wicket-to-wicket bowling.

“It’s different to how New Zealand bowl, they didn’t bowl to length, they went short. That’s their tactic, it works for them,” he said.

“[Neil] Wagner’s very good at it, but we’re different, we try to bowl at the stumps a lot more and it’s really pleasing to see that it worked for us.

“Maybe the New Zealand batters underestimated us. The discipline we’ve shown is fantastic.”

New Zealand are without regular skipper Kane Williamson for the series because of an elbow injury but were still expected to comfortably beat a young Bangladesh side.

“It was obviously a disappointing performance, we weren’t at our best,” said stand-in captain Tom Latham. “Full respect to [Bang­ladesh], they certainly outplayed us throughout the five days.

“We were short in all three facets. Bangladesh showed us how to go about things on that wicket. They were able to build partnerships, to bowl well from both ends and build pressure and unfortunately we werent able to do it for long enough.”

The second match starts in Christchurch on Sunday.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND (1st innings) 328 (D. Conway 122, H. Nicholls 75, W. Young 52; Shoriful 3-69, Mehidy 3-86).

BANGLADESH (1st innings) 458 (Mominul Haque 88, Liton Das 86, Mahmudul Hasan Joy 78, Najmul Hossain Shanto 64; Boult 4-85).

NEW ZEALAND (2nd innings; overnight 147-5):

T. Latham b Taskin 14

W. Young b Ebadot 69

D. Conway c Shadman b Ebadot 13

R. Taylor b Ebadot 40

H. Nicholls b Ebadot 0

T. Blundell lbw Ebadot 0

R. Ravindra c Liton b Taskin 16

K. Jamieson c Shoriful b Ebadot 0

T. Southee b Taskin 0

N. Wagner not out 0

T. Boult c sub (Taijul) b Mehidy 8

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-5, NB-1, W-1) 9

TOTAL (all out, 73.4 overs) 169

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-29 (Latham), 2-63 (Conway), 3-136 (Young), 4-136 (Nicholls), 5-136 (Blundell), 6-154 (Taylor), 7-160 (Jamieson), 8-160 (Ravindra), 9-161 (Southee).

BOWLING: Taskin 14-3-36-3 (1w, 1nb), Shoriful 12-2-30-0, Mehidy 22.4-5-43-1, Ebadot 21-6-46-6, Mominul 4-0-7-0.

BANGLADESH (2nd innings):

Shadman Islam c Blundell b Southee 3

Najmul Hossain Shanto c Taylor b Jamieson 17

Mominul Haque not out 13

Mushfiqur Rahim not out 5

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

TOTAL (for two wkts, 16.5 overs) 42

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3 (Shadman), 2-34 (Najmul).

DID NOT BAT : Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Liton Das, Yasir Ali, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam. BOWLING: Boult 5-3-4-0, Southee 5-2-21-1, Jamieson 3.5-1-12-1 (2w), Wagner 3-1-4-0 (1nb).

RESULT: Bangladesh won by eight wickets.

UMPIRES: Chris Brown and Chris Gaffaney (both New Zealand).

TV UMPIRE: Wayne Knights (New Zealand).

MATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2022