Black Caps vs. Bangladesh

As the cricket season draws to a close, one final test series is being played in New Zealand. Bangladesh are here for a three-test series, and played the first test in Hamilton. As you may have heard, South Africa’s loss to Sri Lanka has helped New Zealand move up the test cricket rankings, and at the beginning of this series they’d grabbed the no. 2 slot, behind India. By a precarious two points, in the way that world rankings are calculated, but still…a test series win, even against lowly Bangladesh, would help to cement that ranking.

And so it was that New Zealand, after bowling out Bangladesh in the first innings for 234, put on what may possibly be their greatest display of batting ever. With three centuries, from Raval, Latham and Williamson (200 not out), they eventually declared at 715 for 6; setting the visitors a mountain to climb – 481 just to get New Zealand to bat again. They made a valiant effort, but fell short by 52 runs, and lost to an innings defeat.

Test two was in Wellington, and kicked off on Friday. When it rained all day. Really rained. Saturday wasn’t quite as rainy, just on and off drizzle, but with the pitch already waterlogged, the chances of play faded as the afternoon progressed.

What to do? A five-day test had been reduced to three by the time Sunday dawned, and even then the weather was looking iffy. Having won the toss, New Zealand again decided to bowl at Bangladesh, and skittled them for 211 in 61 overs. A good start, but then Bangladesh took revenge on the Black Caps openers, taking them out for 3 and 4, and New Zealand finished the day on a somewhat dodgy 38 for 2. On Day 4, however, New Zealand really let fly, and with another double ton, this time from Taylor, complemented by a century from Nicholls, they quickly amassed a defendable total, and declared at 432/6, giving themselves 23 overs to bowl at Bangladesh before the close of play. They used this to good effect, taking three wickets, and left Bangladesh on a precarious 80/3.

We decided to go along for the final day’s play, starting early again at 10:30 to try to recover some of the lost ground from the two-day wash-out. Bangladesh needed 141 to make New Zealand bat again. Once again, the weather forecast looked doubtful early doors, and there was a possibility the match could go either way, or end as a draw, depending on the conditions. Bangladesh were certainly batting well, but the wickets fell regularly. Captain Mahmudullah tried to hold it together with the tail, but when he was out for 97 the match was only going one way, and the threatened interruptions had failed to materialise as the clouds broke and the day improved. New Zealand asked for, and got, a 15-minute extension to the first session before lunch in an attempt to wrap the game up, which they promptly did, taking down the last three wickets with ease. They won by an innings and 12 runs; also taking the series 2-0 with one more match to play in Christchurch, confirming their ranking as the second-best test team in the world.