NZ v BAN, 1st ODI Review: Tom Latham slams ton as Kiwis draw first blood

Tom Latham blasted his way to what was an impressive century against the New Zealand cricket team went on to take a 1-0 lead in the ongoing ODI series against the Bangladesh cricket team in what is being viewed as the turning of a corner as far as the latter is concerned. The southpaw’s efforts with the bat were complimented by some impressive bowling from James Neesham as the latter stemmed the flow of runs for the most part whilst taking wickets and creating breakthroughs at regular intervals.

Kane Williamson won the toss and made the decision of allowing his openers the dubious honor of batting first. Initially, this began quite well when Martin Guptill got the Kiwis off to a flier. However, this was to end soon. As the old saying goes, you live and die by the sword. Thus, after a whirlwind 15 runs that included a massive six, Mustafizur Rahman got his man when Guptill once again fell for the slower delivery.

While both Kane Williamson and Tom Latham decided to play their shots, the fact of the matter remained that they were certainly on the road to adding a bit of stability, something that was closely watched by the crowd who were present to watch the ordeal in the haven of Christchurch. However, their aggression was also something for all to see as they were on the path to a massive score.

While it was the returning Taskin Ahmed who one again broke the partnership, a significant contribution would only come from the bat of Colin Munro down the order. This also meant that the southpaw would be one of those who would go on to impress with some tremendous batting acumen, to say the least. While Latham continued on his merry way of making an attempt to add to his list of ODI tons, it was Munro who quickly realized the importance of smashing the ball 20 rows back.

Munro’s onslaught came towards the death of the innings, wherein he was able to blast his way through the Bangladesh pacers who were seemingly struggling with their lines and unable to find the block-hole as regularly as they are capable of. Munro’s innings eventually saw the Kiwis cross over to the 300-run side of the innings as his 87 off just 61 deliveries included the 8 boundaries and 4 sixes, something that also increased the confidence of the crowd.

Chasing 342 was always something that would require something special from the Bangladesh batsmen. However, the last thing they would have wanted would have been the fact that both their openers would not have got going when it came to batting on New Zealand tracks that can either be an onslaught or one that can be a belter of a wicket.

However, the Bangladesh batsmen were to be a bunch of lambs with little or no experience of plying their trade on wickets that offered the seamers an abundance of pace.  They were clearly troubled by the pace of Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson. However, it was James Neesham who was the man to cash in on those inroads made by the others as the likes of Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes had simply no answer to the seam movement.

Soumya Sarkar and Mahmudullah also did not make any impact as they simply could not withstand the onslaught from Jimmy Neesham. This meant that it would be the old guard in the form of Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib-Al-Hasan who were handed the responsibility of ensuring that the Bangladeshis would at least give a good account of themselves in spite of the fact that the target at the time looked to be a bridge too far.

Shakib began to use his BBL experience as he smashed the ball to different parts of the ground. He was joined by his partner in crime Mushfiqur Rahim who would be on the receiving end of an injury in the latter stage of the match. However, the duo supported by Mossadek Hossain brought the Bangladeshis within touching distance of a hopeful target only for an injury to strike Rahim when he was on 42 and an unfortunate dismissal of Shakib who attempted one big strike too many against a man with genuine pace such as Lockie Ferguson.

Mossadek Hossain’s knock of 50 kept Bangladesh in the hunt before the Boult-Southee partnership eventually ensured that the match would come to an abrupt end thereby handing Bangladesh a 77-run defeat in the first ODI at Christchurch.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand: 341/7 in 50 overs (T Latham 137; Shakib-Al-Hasan 3/69)

Bangladesh: 264 all out in 44.5 overs (Shakib 59; J Neesham 3/36)