DHAKA, Oct 21: Brendon McCullum slammed a maiden century as New Zealand boosted their hopes of winning the opening Test against Bangladesh after gaining a big lead here on Thursday.

The wicket-keeper scored 143 in testing conditions to help his team post 402 in reply to Bangladesh's first innings total of 177.

The hosts, trailing by 225 runs, were 41-2 in their second innings at stumps on the third day. Debutant Nafis Iqbal was batting on 24 with Rajin Saleh, who had yet to open his account.

Left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori dismissed Javed Omar (14) and Hannan Sarkar (one) in quick succession to finish the day with 2-4 off five tight overs.

But the day belonged to McCullum, who played a big role in putting New Zealand in a commanding position. The tourists were 38 runs short of Bangladesh's modest total with five wickets in hand when the wicket-keeper/batsman arrived at the crease on Wednesday.

McCullum, 23, paced his innings remarkably well on a slow turning pitch, taking no risks and picking the right deliveries to punish. He received valuable support from lower-order batsmen to dash the hosts' hopes of restricting the tourists.

McCullum put on 84 for the sixth wicket with Jacob Oram, 71 for the seventh with Vettori and 57 for the next with James Franklin to put the match beyond Bangladesh's reach.

Oram, Vettori and Franklin contributed 23 apiece.

Left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique was the most impressive bowler with 6-122 off 59.1 overs, his fourth haul of five or more wickets in a Test innings. He also became the first Bangladeshi bowler to claim 50 Test wickets during his marathon effort.

The 34-year-old spinner, however, got little support from the other end as Bangladesh continued to struggle for wickets after New Zealand resumed on Thursday morning on 207-5.

McCullum, 48 overnight, completed his first hundred in seven Tests in the last over of the morning session when he smartly flicked Rafique for his 10th four.

He fell before the tea break, caught off a leading edge by Alok Kapali at short cover to become Rafique's fifth victim. He struck two sixes and 10 fours in his 243-ball knock.

Rafique finished the New Zealand innings with his first ball of the final session when he bowled Paul Wiseman (28).

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