Ross Taylor's 82 helps New Zealand edge to nervy two-wicket World Cup win over Bangladesh
Thursday 6 June 2019 06:14, UK
Ross Taylor's sublime innings saw New Zealand seal a nail-biting, two-wicket victory over Bangladesh in their World Cup clash at The Oval.
Chasing just 245, Taylor continued his exquisite form in 50-over cricket, which has seen him score 12 half-centuries in his last 22 innings, as he anchored the Black Caps' innings with 82 off 91 balls.
The 35-year-old shared a match-winning, 105-run third-wicket partnership with Kane Williamson and, although the fall of the New Zealand captain caused a middle-order collapse that saw them lose 5-58, Mitchell Santner (17no) squeezed his side home with 11 balls to spare.
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Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan (64) had earlier struck a fifth 50+ score in his last six innings, but Matt Henry's four-wicket haul saw the Tigers bowled out for 244 with four balls of their innings remaining.
Having been asked to bat first, the Tigers' top-order made a fast start to their innings before Henry bowled Soumya Sarkar (25) and had Tamim Iqbal (24) caught at mid-wicket, leaving Mashrafe Mortaza's side 60-2.
As in their opening victory over South Africa, it was elder statesmen Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim who seemed to be building Bangladesh towards a big target until the latter ran himself out on 19 looking for a quick single.
All-rounder Shakib reached a second successive half-century in the competition off only 54 balls but, just as he looked to push on, an attempted cut to a fuller ball from Colin de Grandhomme saw him get a thin edge behind to Tom Latham, departing for 64.
Mohammad Mithun (26), Mahmudullah (20) and Mohammad Saifuddin (29) all made useful contributions but Henry took two wickets in two balls to polish off the Bangladesh innings, restricting them to 244 all out in 49.2 overs.
Despite facing a seemingly routine chase in south London, Shakib claimed the scalps of both New Zealand openers, Martin Guptill (25) and Colin Munro (24), in the opening 10 overs to reduce the Black Caps to 55-2.
With pressure building, the game-changing moment in the match occurred in the 12th over, as Bangladesh had seemingly run out Williamson, who was stranded in the middle of the pitch, only for replays to show that wicketkeeper Mushfiqur had broken the bails as he attempted to gather the ball, when Tamim's throw at the stumps was going to be a direct hit.
It proved a costly miss as Williamson and Taylor shared their 13th ODI century stand, but Mehidy Hasan then removed the Kiwi skipper for 40 and Latham (0) followed in the same over as the match burst into life once more.
Taylor looked to be zeroing in on a 21st one-day international century but tickled Mosaddek Hossain behind to Mushfiqur and had to trudge off 18 runs short of three figures.
The game took another huge swing when De Grandhomme's attempt to upper cut Saifuddin saw him caught behind and five balls later Jimmy Neesham (25) picked out long-off to give Mosaddek his second wicket.
But, Santner remained calm and drilled the first ball of the 48th over to the cover boundary to hand New Zealand their second win of the tournament.
Watch Australia take on West Indies in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, live from 10am on Sky Sports Cricket World Cup on Thursday.
