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In the first ODI in Dunedin, which was halted by rain,
New Zealand defeated Bangladesh 1-0 thanks to a powerful partnership of 171 for
the third wicket between centurion Will Young and skipper Tom Latham.
Bangladesh was chasing a challenging and altered 245 in 30 overs, and they
lacked any significant partnerships or large scores to plan their pursuit.
When they were 80 for 2 in the twelfth over, it
appeared as though they might win, but Bangladesh never recovered from 103 for
5, save for some late fireworks from Afif Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Josh
Clarkson, making his debut, removed the solid sets of Anamul Haque and Litton
Das in successive overs, and Rachin Ravindra had Mushfiqur Rahim caught behind.
Rain had initially shortened the match to 46 overs a
side after the toss, but Shoriful Islam found the edges of Henry Nicholls and
Rachin Ravindra to dismiss them for ducks in the opening over, giving New
Zealand a rough start. Young and Latham started the comeback from 5 for 2, but
Latham was dropped on 18 as Soumya Sarkar made a catch above his head off
Mustafizur Rahman in the second slip. Rain cut short the innings twice: first
in the 14th over, converting the match to a 40-overs-per-side match, and then
in the 20th over, with New Zealand 108 for 2. Latham against Mehidy and Young
against Mustafizur were the two hitters who had just opened up with straight
fours that propelled the run rate towards 5.50.
Getting a revised goal of 245 runs, Bangladesh lost
Soumya for a duck in the opening over as he was caught behind by Adam Milne.
However, Anamul and Najmul Hossain Shanto guided them to 50 runs. But before it
appeared that Anamul and Litton were going steady, Ish Sodhi struck with his
fourth ball, bowling Shanto around his legs by sailing past his reverse sweep.
Clarkson then struck with two distinct types of short balls. After forcing a
leading edge to take a return catch off Anamul, he bowled a slower bouncer that
caught Litton behind. Similar to Shanto, Mushfiqur was dismissed after
attempting a reverse sweep, as wicketkeeper Tom Blundell caught his top edge.
Bangladesh was trailing behind at 103 for 5.
Bangladesh were still in the game though, with Towhd
Hridoy and Afif adding a quick stand of 56 off 38 balls, but it was still not
enough to reduce the asking rate. They slipped further when Sodhi returned and
had Hridoy caught at long leg off a wrong’un and Afif lobbed a catch to short
midwicket next over. It was a lost cause to get 80 runs from six overs with
three wickets in hand, and Mehidy’s blows only ensured that Bangladesh got to
200.