Defeat adds insult to injuries
Black Caps put visitors to the sword on crazy day at the Basin
KANE Williamson's 15th test century carried New Zealand to an improbable sevenwicket test victory over Bangladesh at the Basin Reserve in Wellington yesterday.
It is New Zealand's 17th test win at their most successful test venue and their third in as many tests at home this summer.
Left with 217 to win in 57 overs, New Zealand saw off the target — before a large crowd given free admission — with 17.2 overs to spare.
Captain Williamson and senior batsman Ross Taylor shared a classy 163-run partnership after New Zealand had lost both openers, Jeet Raval and Tom Latham, to offspinner Mehedi Hasan before the tea interval.
At that point Bangladesh were right in the contest, but the New Zealand batsmen made no race of it after the interval.
It is the worst defeat in test history, in terms of the highest total made in the first innings by the losing team.
Bangladesh's 595 for eight eclipsed Australia's 586 at Sydney in 1894-95.
Bangladesh had the better of the first half of the test but fell away as the match reached its third innings and New Zealand, with their tails up, charged on to gain what would have seemed a highly improbable win midway through day three.
Williamson and Taylor took the game away from Bangladesh and Williamson now sits one century behind Taylor and two behind Martin Crowe's record 17 for New Zealand.
But the day's events were overshadowed by a head injury to Bangladesh's plucky captain Mushfiqur Rahim before lunch. He was struck on the back of his head after misjudging a short ball from Tim Southee.
Mushfiqur slumped to the ground and spent 13 minutes there before an ambulance ferried him to nearby Wellington hospital.
Tests showed concussion concerns for Mushfiqur, who had been peppered with short balls through his innings, in which he was also nursing bad bruising on his left thumb and right index finger.
The day began badly for Bangladesh, who led by 122 at the start. They lost two of their best batsmen, Shakib al Hasan and Mominul Haque early.
Mushfiqur battled the odds for 83 minutes before being felled and the only other notable hand came from Sabbir Rahman with his second 50 of the match. Injured opener Imrul Kayes, who hurt his left leg diving for his crease late on the fourth day, hobbled out and got to 36.
The lead always looked skinny and so it proved as Williamson sped to his 90-ball century, unfurling a stream of top-class shots.
Mushfiqur was back at the ground for the last rites in a match which ended in ignominy and pain.
The test produced an aggregate of 1511 runs, a record for the ground, eclipsing the 1476 of three years ago when India were the visitors.
The second test starts at Christchurch's Hagley Oval on Friday.