Cricket: New Zealand XI beat Bangladesh by 3 wickets

Bangladesh national cricket team tasted defeat in their 43-over tour match against New Zealand XI when they went down by three wickets at Cobham Oval, Whangarei today.

During New Zealand’s chase of 246, Bangladesh looked like they were in the driver’s seat with the hosts struggling at 6-154 inside 30 overs. Ben Horne came to his team’s rescue, and eventually took NZ XI home in 41.4 overs with his unbeaten knock of 60 from 53 balls.

Handy contributions lower down the order from Henry Shipley and Brett Hampton helped NZ XI reach their target quite comfortably in the end. The 7th wicket stand of 45 in 6.4 overs followed by the 8th wicket partnership in 5.4 overs kept Bangladesh bowlers at bay.

Good news for Bangladesh fans would be the return of Mustafizur Rahman, and he bowled seven overs with decent rhythm today. Fizz captured two wickets for 39 runs. Shakib Al Hasan was the most successful bowler among his teammates with 3-41 in seven overs.

 Earlier, Bangladesh reached 245 for 8 after they opted to bat first.

Although Bangladesh lost Tamim Iqbal early, Imrul Kayes and Soumya Sarkar took the attack to the bowlers and took their team to 62 inside 11 overs. The 55-run stand in 8.3 overs was punctuated with some lovely boundaries, particularly on the off side.

After Imrul was dismissed by Henry Shipley for 36, Mahmudullah Riyad got his eye in, made 43 from 46 and contributed in some useful partnerships in the middle order. The fourth and fifth wicket stands of over 50 runs enabled Bangladesh to post 245 in the end.

When Mahmudullah retired on 43 not out, Mushfiqur Rahim took up the mantle of scoring and looked quite busy at the crease. His knock of 45 in 41 balls came to a conclusion with a reverse sweep of Ajaz Patel in the 40th over. As Tigers lost wickets late in their innings, they didn’t get the momentum to push for a bigger total in the death overs. Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza was not out with 21 from 19 balls after 43 overs.

For New Zealand XI, Shawn Hicks and Brett Hampton took two wickets each. Hicks captured the wickets of Shakib Al Hasan and Mehedi Hasan Miraz for 30 runs in six overs.

Score:

Bangladesh: 245 for 8 (43 overs)

Mushfiqur 45, Mahmudullah 43, Hicks 2-30

New Zealand XI: 247 for 7 (41.4 overs)

Horne 60, Smith 50, Shakib 3-41

Result: New Zealand XI win by 3 wickets (with 8 balls remaining)