Published on 06:06 AM, January 04, 2022

Tigers all out on 458; Kiwis trail by 120 at Lunch

Bangladesh batsmen Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Yasir Ali bump gloves during the fourth day at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Photo: AFP 

After surviving the tougher part of the morning session on the fourth day, Bangladesh lost two of their overnight batters in succession to give New Zealand a ray of hope to salvage a positive result in their favour in the first of the two-Test series at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. 

The Kiwis proceeded to clean up the Tigers' tail fast as Bangladesh ended their first innings at 458 after 176.2 overs, on the box seat with a lead of 130 runs.

New Zealand openers had a tough time negotiating one over apiece from Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Mehedi Hasan Miraz before the hosts headed to Lunch on 10 for no loss after three overs, trailing by 120 in their second innings.

Earlier, Bangladesh reached 450 with Taskin driving a Tim Southee good-length delivery on the up for a boundary. Taskin arrived after Southee dismissed Miraz on 47 off 88 balls. Miraz, after reaching 1000 career runs in Test cricket, brought his own downfall by committing to a forceful slash to point, only to get an outside edge to the wicketkeeper. With Miraz's departure, the crucial 160-ball partnership which yielded 75 runs, ended. 

On the other end, Yasir Ali, who looked solid throughout his stay in the middle, soon followed Miraz with another dismissal against the run of play. Like Southee, Kyle Jamieson scalped his first wicket of the match when Yasir nicked to the keeper while trying the flick a seemingly harmless Jamieson delivery to fine leg. Yasir departed after a 85-ball 26-run knock.   

Kyle Jamieson celebrates the wicket of Yasir Ali. Photo: AFP

Southee then got the better of Taskin, dismissed on 5, who looked to take the attack to the opposition from the word go. Trent Boult then picked up Shoriful Islam on 7 as his fourth victim of the innings. Even though Boult had boasted figures of 85 for four in 35.2 overs, the pick of the Kiwi bowlers was arguably Neil Wagner who was the main threat during the majority of Bangladesh's innings and picked three important wickets for 101 runs in 40 overs.

The Tigers reached another milestone as they ended their innings after having faced the second-highest overs in their history, surpassing 173 overs played against Sri Lanka in the first innings in Pallekele last year. 

*Keep an eye on The Daily Star's Sports section for further match updates.