NEW Zealand continued their dominance over Bangladesh with a five-wicket win in the second one-day international.
Having already thrashed the subcontinent side in the one-off Twenty20 and the opening one-day match in Napier, Daniel Vettori’s side kept up the pressure on the visitors at University Oval in Dunedin to take an unassailable 2-0 lead with one match of the limited-overs series to go. While the hosts knocked off the target of 184 with ease, they will be disappointed they did not bowl out Bangladesh inside the 50 overs or restrict them to a much lower total than the 183 for eight they managed given the visitors were 46 for six less than halfway through their innings.
In the end the win was comfortable enough though, as New Zealand cruised to 185 for five in 27.3 overs with Ross Taylor (78) and Martin Guptill (32) the main contributors.
Taylor played with his customary panache smacking six boundaries and five sixes in his 52-ball innings.
He appeared set to get New Zealand across the line alongside James Franklin (20 not out) but holed out to Mahmudullah in the deep going for the match-winning six in what turned out to be the penultimate over.
The finale was a bit of an anticlimax as Neil Broome quickly came and went for a duck leaving Daniel Vettori (four not out) to hit the winning runs.
Shafiul Islam (three for 49 off seven overs) was Bangladesh’s chief wicket-taker claiming the scalps of Brendon McCullum, Taylor and Broome.
Rubel Hossain took the other two but conceded 68 runs in the process.
The fact Bangladesh made it to a semi-respectable total was only due to the sterling efforts of wicketkeeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim (86) and Naeem Islam (43) who set a Bangladesh record with a seventh-wicket stand of 101.
The pair had to dig deep early in their innings after the loss of so many wickets but once the second drinks break had been taken after the 35th over and with the score at 76 for six they cut loose and took it to the New Zealand bowlers who up until that point had dominated proceedings.
Daryl Tuffey and Ian Butler, in particular, suffered during the batting powerplay which Bangladesh took with just six overs to go.
Tuffey’s final three overs went for 35 runs to blow his figures out to one for 55 from nine overs, while Butler conceded 33 runs in his last three overs – including 17 off the last six deliveries of the innings – to finish with three for 45 off 10. (Eurosport)