DUNEDIN, (New Zealand): Trent Boult and Martin Guptill powered New Zealand to an emphatic eight wicket win over Bangladesh in the opening one-day international in Dunedin on Saturday.
New Zealand chased down a mediocre target of 132 with more than 28 overs to spare with Henry Nicholls not out 49 and debutant Will Young on 11 at the close.
But the early finish was set up by an aggressive start from opener Guptill who blazed away for 38 off 19 deliveries.
All but two of his 38 runs came from boundaries with four sixes and three fours before Taskin Ahmed found a faint edge and wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim completed the dismissal.
The quickfire opening put Bangladesh on the back foot with Nicholls untroubled as he picked off the bowlers, only to be denied his 12th half century by Young who brought up the winning runs with a boundary.
In the first clash in a three-match series, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl with captain Tom Latham correctly predicting that if there was anything in the wicket it would be early in the day.
Bangladesh opener and skipper Tamim Iqbal looked to dominate with a six off Boult’s third ball and a four off the second over from Matt Henry. But on a ground where the average winning score is in excess of 300, the tourists were soon in trouble when Boult took two wickets in his third over.
He started with the dismissal of Iqbal, trapping him lbw with a straight delivery as the Bangladesh skipper waited for the ball to swing. New batsman Soumya Sarkar went three balls later without scoring and Bangladesh never recovered.
Boult later removed Taskin Ahmed (10) and Hasan Mahmud (one) to finish with four for 27.
Liton Das (19) and Mushfiqur Rahim (23) stayed together for nearly nine overs but added only 23 runs before both were removed by Jimmy Neesham.
Neesham was central to a third wicket when he spilled a return chance from Mahmudullah only for the ball to deflect on to the stumps and run-out non-striker Mohammad Mithun who was backing up too far.
Neesham took two for 27, left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner took two for 23 while the economical Henry dismissed Mahmudullah, Bangladesh’s top scorer, for 27. The second match in the three-match series is in Christchurch on Tuesday.
Scoreboard===============================================Bangladesh===============================================T. Iqbal lbw b Boult 13L. Das c Boult b Neesham 19S. Sarkar c Conway b Boult 0M. Rahim c Guptill b Neesham 23M. Mithun run out (Neesham) 9Mahmudullah c Santner b Henry 27M. Hasan b Santner 1M. Hasan c Nicholls b Santner 14T. Ahmed c Santner b Boult 10H. Mahmud b Boult 1M. Rahman not out 1Extras: (lb3, w9, nb1) 13===============================================Total: (10 wkts; 41.5 overs) 131===============================================Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Tamim), 2-19 (Soumya), 3-42 (Das), 4-69 (Mushfiqur), 5-72 (Mithun), 6-78 (Mehidy), 7-98 (Mahedi), 8-125 (Mahmudullah), 9-130 (Mahmud), 10-131 (Taskin)
Bowling: Boult 8.5-0-27-4 (w4), Henry 9-1-26-1, Jamieson 8-1-25-0 (w1), Neesham 8-1-27-2 (w2, 1nb), Santner 8-0-23-2 (2)
===============================================New Zealand===============================================M. Guptill c Mushfiqur b Taskin 38H. Nicholls not out 49D. Conway c Mahmudullah b Mahmud 27Will Young not out 11Extras: (b1, lb2, nb2, w2) 7===============================================Total: (two wkts; 21.2 overs) 132===============================================Fall of wickets: 1-54 (Guptill), 2-119 (Conway)
Did not bat: Tom Latham, James Neesham, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson, Matt Henry, Trent Boult
Bowling: Mustafizur 4-0-26-0 (1w), Mahmud 4.2-0-49-1, Taskin 4-0-23-1 (1w, 2nb), Mahedi 6-0-17-0, Mehidy 2-0-9-0, Soumya 1-0-5-0
Toss: New Zealand
Result: New Zealand won by eight wickets
Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZL), Wayne Knights (NZL)
TV Umpire: Chris Brown (NZL)
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL)