NZ v BAN, 2nd Test, Day 1 Review: Advantage NZ as Tim Southee floors visitors for 289

On a partly cloudy morning, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson called the coin right and chose to field first, in what looked like a seamer friendly conditions. Bangladesh dealt a heavy blow after their experienced campaigners – Mushfiqur Rahim, Mominul Haque and Imrul Kayes were sidelined due to injury. Rahim sustained a thumb injury, whereas Imrul was out with a grade – two thigh strain and Momimul suffering a rib injury.

Tamim Iqbal, captaining the national Test side for the first time, failed to trouble the stats man after poking his gloves to a Tim Southee delivery. The visitors were soon reduced to 38/2 after Trent Boult found Mahmudullah’s inside edge in the 11th over of the day’s play. Soumya Sarkar kept fetching runs at one end and brought up his half-century with a gorgeous drive. The left-hander made most of the drop chances and scored a breezy 85, and was involved in a 127-run stand with Shakib-Al-Hasan, before his drive found Colin Grandhomme at short cover.

Shakib on the other hand, batted with a lot of intent, negotiating the short ones while punishing the poor deliveries. He fell for 57, with Bangladesh’s scorecard reading 179/4. New Zealand goofed up a few half-chances but they were quite lucky as both Boult and Southee kept the hosts in the hunt throughout the day. Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Nurul Hasan repaired a bit of the damage with a 53-run stand for the sixth wicket. Nurul was lucky to get away with a few edges, scoring a fighting 47, as the visitors set their sight on the 300-mark.

But a couple of late strikes from Boult and Southee ensured Bangladesh wrap their innings at 289 in 84.3 overs. Southee picked up his 6th five-wicket haul while Trent Boult scalped four wickets. The two fast bowlers shared 52.3 overs between them, as captain Kane Williamson decided to share the load among his quickies and not to use the service of spinner Mitchell Santner.

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New Zealand will be pretty satisfied with the way things went since Bangladesh looked to posses a huge threat during the second session. Bangladesh could hardly make use of the hosts missed chances, as New Zealand will head into the second day with a little advantage on a flat deck.

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He believed… #BelieveInTheLeave #NZvBAN pic.twitter.com/SBTnZodWNt

— #TheACCnz (@TheACCnz) January 20, 2017

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh – 289/10 (84.3) (Soumya Sarkar – 84, Shakib-al-Hasan – 59, Tim Southee – 5/94)