Mushy, Riyad and Sabbir among the runs in practice match
New Zealand XI defeated Bangladesh in a 50-over practice match at Bert Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln by two wickets. The Tigers will be playing the first ODI against New Zealand on February 13 and ahead of the ODI series, a practice game was arranged so that the players could get acclimatized to the conditions. Batsmen Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad and Sabbir Rahman were among the runs as they helped the Tigers recover after a tricky start.
Sent in to bat first, Bangladesh were in early trouble losing Mominul Haque, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Mithun inside eight overs. The extra bounce of New Zealand surfaces was on view as Mominul (6) top-edged a delivery while Soumya (1) fell trying to smack it through the off side but the ball gained up on him just slightly.
Liton Das and Mohammad Mithun both perished to McPeake, out caught-behind. A 108-run fifth-wicket partnership between Mushfiqur Rahim (62 off 61) and Mahmudullah Riyad (72 off 88) helped stabilize the innings. After Mushfiqur's departure, Mahmudullah perished too. Sabbir Rahman (40 off 41) helped Bangladesh cross 200-run mark while young Nayeem Hasan's (17) valuable runs in the end, saw Bangladesh post 247 all out. Mc Peake was the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand XI with four wickets.
New Zealand XI started their chase solidly as Raval (52) and Fletcher notched up a 114-run opening partnership. Nayeem got the first breakthrough but New Zealand XI coasted towards the target, guided by Fletcher before the right-hander fell to Mustafizur after a 112-ball 92. The spinners got a few wickets as Mahmudullah and Mehedi Miraz bagged two each. Fizz grabbed two and made New Zealand XI sweat on victory but they eventually got over the ropes with two wickets and 11 deliveries to spare.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh: 247 all out (Mushfiqur 62, Mahmudullah 72, Sabbir 40, McPeake 4/38)
New Zealand XI: 251/8 (Raval 52, Fletcher 92, Mustafizur 2/33, Mahmudulla 2/37, Miraz 2/46)
Result: New Zealand XI win by 2 wickets.