Taylor ton tames Tigers

Taylor: First ODI century on foreign soil

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• Bangladesh
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• Ross Taylor
• Jamie How

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Third One Day International
Chittagong
New Zealand 249-7 (L R P L Taylor 103, J M How 73) v Bangladesh 170-8
New Zealand beat Bangladesh by 79 runs

Ross Taylor's sublime 103 helped New Zealand clinch the one-day series against Bangladesh with a 79-run victory in Chittagong.

A third-wicket partnership of 125 between Taylor and Jamie How (73) ultimately proved decisive as tight bowling then saw the Tigers fall well short of their target.

The Kiwis challenging, yet attainable, total of 250 never looked likely to be threatened after Jacob Oram and Jeetan Patel combined to take two wickets apiece and reduce the hosts to 59-5.

The victory for Daniel Vettori's men saw them claim the three-match series 2-1 and ensured they didn't become the first Test playing nation other than Zimbabwe to lose a series to Bangladesh.

Breakthrough

After winning the toss and deciding to bat, Taylor anchored the New Zealand innings after openers Jesse Ryder (3) and Brendon McCullum (6) fell early.

How and Taylor set about rebuilding the innings by bludgeoning some big boundaries. How reached his fifty in the 22nd over, with eight fours off 55 balls, and received valuable support from Taylor.

The duo forged ahead to a 125-run stand before Naeem Islam found a breakthrough with the last ball of the 32nd over when How was trapped lbw to depart for 73 off 83 balls.

New Zealand employed the powerplay after 35 overs, but it did not go entirely to plan as Scott Styris was out for 12, falling lbw to Al Hasan.

Oram was Al Hasan's second victim, caught at deep square leg by Tamim Iqbal, while Daniel Flynn added five runs to the total before perishing to Abdur Razzak.

Taylor continued to frustrate Bangladesh's bowlers, though, and completed his third one-day century in the 47th over. It included five fours and four sixes.

Setback

His time at the crease was ended two balls later when he top-edged Mashrafe Mortaza's full toss to Mushfiqur Rahim behind the wicket.

Skipper Vettori (19 not out) and Kyle Mills (unbeaten on 18) then produced a late flurry of runs to give a healthy look to New Zealand's total and deny the hosts any further wickets.

Bangladesh's run chase suffered an early setback when Junaid Siddique was caught by Ryder off the bowling of Mills for just one, however the Tigers fought back, albeit briefly.

Tamim struck a quick-fire 35, but when he and Imrul Kayes (12) fell in the space of three balls it triggered a dramatic collapse from the hosts.

The home spectators looked on in agony as 49-1 turned into 98-7 as New Zealand began to turn the screw in ruthless fashion.

Naeem fought back admirably in the middle-order to finish unbeaten on 46. However the target was never in reach and New Zealand celebrated a hard-fought series win.