After their famous 4-0 win against the same opposition at home in 2010,
another clean sweep beckoned for Bangladesh after they wrapped up the
second ODI by 40 runs. Bangladesh defended 247 and their decision to bat
first was vindicated despite concerns over the spinners' effectiveness
with a dew-laden ball.
Bangladesh made the two new balls count. Mashrafe Mortaza, who took
three wickets, bowled two good spells to make sure New Zealand's
required run-rate never went down. Offspinner Sohag Gazi took the other
new ball, and like Mashrafe, tied down the batsmen at first before
picking up three wickets. Mominul Haque was Mushfiqur Rahim's golden
arm, removing the McCullum brothers.
When they began their chase of 248 run, Hamish Rutherford was the first
to go, chopping a Mashrafe delivery onto his stumps for 1, repeating his
score from the first match. Anton Devcich and Grant Elliott were
removed off successive deliveries a little while later, the former
popping a catch back to Gazi and the latter getting stuck on the crease
to Abdur Razzak, and falling leg-before.
As the chase began to gather pace, the visitors pinned their hopes on
the captain Brendon McCullum to make his first significant score on this
tour. It remained that way, as he fell just when his partnership with
Ross Taylor was starting to worry Bangladesh.
After the second drinks break, McCullum went back to a Mominul delivery
that didn't turn much, missed it and was given out leg-before. In the
next over, Tom Latham was run out thanks to Rubel Hossain's throw after
Taylor sent him back after completing the first run. James Neesham was
caught off a short ball from Gazi, caught by a diving Naeem Islam at
square leg.
Gazi picked up the crucial wicket of Taylor just after he had smashed a
six at the end of the batting Powerplay. That wicket - the eighth
falling with the score on 158 - spelled the end of New Zealand's
resistance in this series, as Bangladesh waited for the inevitable. Kyle
Mills and Nathan McCullum held things up for a while before Nathan
McCullum holed out at long-on in the 46th over. The end came when Tim
Southee missed Mashrafe's straight ball in the 47th over.
Bangladesh, on the other hand, were off to a better start with the bat,
but none of their batsmen pushed on for a big score. The New Zealand
bowlers were accurate and controlled their bowling variations. The
Bangladesh batsmen had to be patient, but were often frustrated as they
could not get on top of the medium-pacers. Brendon McCullum set planned
fields, packing the off side and to his credit, he was backed by the
bowlers and the fielders.
Corey Anderson and Neesham both took four wickets, after Southee and
Kyle Mills restricted the Bangladesh openers with tight spells with the
two new balls. Their tidiness in the first 35 overs paid off when
Bangladesh lost three quick wickets after the 36th over, at the start of
the batting Powerplay, Bangladesh's scourge. It set them back for the
last nine overs during which they added only 63 runs and lost four
wickets.
Mushfiqur, Naeem and Nasir Hossain fell in the space of eleven balls,
which took them from 169 for 3 to 173 for 6. All three dismissals were
soft and the shots played, particularly that of Mushfiqur and Naeem,
were unnecessary.
The top and middle-order batsmen threw away good starts. The openers,
Tamim Iqbal and the debutant Shamsur Rahman began steadily with a stand
of 63. Tamim was the enforcer, but the debutant Shamsur was relatively
sedate during his 25. Tamim drove stylishly through the covers and his
only six, down the ground off Southee in the ninth over, was his best
shot.
Mominul struck five boundaries, one of them straight down the ground and
another flicked through midwicket. But he fell to a trap, pulling a
slower ball from Anderson to Nathan McCullum at deep midwicket.
Soon after, Tamim got stuck in the forties for 18 balls, before reaching
his 25th ODI fifty off 75 balls. He was finally dismissed by inside
edging Anderson's slower ball onto his stumps, after missing on several
wild swishes. As the sun set below Mirpur's horizon, the home crowd
looked disappointed that the batsmen failed to capitalise, but the mood
changed as the evening wore on.
Batting is an area that still needs improvement, but with an inspired
bowling performance such as this, Mushfiqur need not give himself and
the rest of the batsmen the hair-dryer. With cricket being one of the
unifying factors in the country, celebrations are expected everywhere
