Black Caps in pole position
The Black Caps are poised to kick on and punish Bangladesh for their batting collapse on day one of the first test in Hamilton.
After a rip-roaring opening session where the tourists – led by centurion Tamim Iqbal – blasted 4.35 runs an over, Neil Wagner’s 5-47 inspired New Zealand’s pace attack to swing the match in the home side’s favour at Seddon Park yesterday.
Bangladesh, who were 122-2 at lunch, lost their final eight wickets for a meagre 87 runs after Tamim notched his ninth test century from 128 balls in swashbuckling fashion.
Wagner achieved his sixth five-wicket haul in tests and he said that bowling plans had to change after winning the toss because of Tamim’s destructive knock of 126.
New Zealand, who dismissed Bangladesh for 234 all out, simply bowled shorter lengths after not getting the movement in the wicket they were expecting in the first session.
Tamim lamented his side’s inability to pile on the runs batting first and New Zealand’s unbeaten opening stand of 86 between Jeet Raval (51) and Tom Latham (35) only emphasised the opener’s disappointment.
The Black Caps are in pole position after finishing day one trailing by 148 runs with 10 wickets in hand and Tamim fears the next two days would be best for batting.
‘‘It was a very good wicket. It was greenish but it didn’t too much. We should have scored a lot more runs. At the end the day, we have ourselves to blame,’’ Tamim said. ‘‘If we could have batted the whole day, we could have scored somewhere between 350 and 400.’’
Tamim smashed 21 fours and one six in his first test century against the Black Caps, but none of his team-mates scored higher than 29 as Bangladesh failed to bat out the day.
Wagner utilised the short ball brilliantly to trouble Bangladesh’s batsmen, who either had no answer or were guilty of rash shots in losing their wicket.
‘‘It’s not only against Bangladesh that it’s successful,’’ Wagner said of the short ball. ‘‘It’s tough. It’s not easy on your body when you’ve obviously got to keep doing it.’’