All-round Bangladesh ends tri-series on a high

A disciplined effort with the ball that prevented New Zealand from breaking free towards the end of its innings and then some excellent individual batting performances steered Bangladesh to a five-wicket win in the final match of the tri-series in Dublin on Wednesday (May 24).

New Zealand didn't have regulars such as Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill, Trent Boult and Tim Southee on the field, but that mattered little to Bangladesh, which moved to sixth place in the International Cricket Council’s One-Day International rankings, above Sri Lanka, with the result coming four months before the cutoff date for direct qualification for the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.

Bangladesh won the toss and bowled well as a unit to keep New Zealand to 270 for 8 with Mashrafe Mortaza, Nasir Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan picking up two wickets apiece. Tamim Iqbal (65 in 80 balls) and Sabbir Rahman (65 in 83) then set the platform before Mushfiqur Rahim (45 not out in 45) and Mahmudullah (46 not out in 36) finished it off with ten balls to spare.

The result didn’t impact the points table. New Zealand won the tournament after having won its first three matches, while Bangladesh ended in second place with two wins and split points after a washed-out game against Ireland, the host, which finished bottom without a single win. The result, Bangladesh’s first ODI win over New Zealand away from home, will also help its confidence ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, where the two teams are in the same group.

In Bangladesh’s chase of a moderate total, the intent was clear when Tamim hit the first ball for a six over Jeetan Patel's head. Jeetan removed Soumya Sarkar two balls later for a duck, but Sabbir and Tamim kept the New Zealand bowlers at bay with a 136-run partnership.

The breakthrough came in the 27th over when Tamim attempted a slog sweep against Mitchell Santner but didn't get the distance with his shot.

After that, Bangladesh lost two more wickets to be 160 for 4 in the 30th over.

First, Mosaddek Hossain ran to the striker's end for a single and Neil Broom collected the ball and hit the wickets at the non-striker's end. It was the well-set Sabbir who had to go due to the careless mix-up. To make matters worse, Mosaddek was trapped lbw by Jeetan minutes later.

That brought the two senior players - Shakib and Rahim - to the crease, and though they tried to revive the chase, the former fell to Hamish Bennett to leave Bangladesh needing 72 more runs from 11.3 overs.

Another wicket would have exposed the tail, but Mahmudullah relieved the pressure on Rahim with six fours and a six to take Bangladesh to a grandstand finish on 271 for 5.

Unlike Bangladesh, New Zealand's middle order failed to capitalise on a strong foundation. New Zealand was 208 for 3 in the 39th over, on course for a total of 300, but the dismissal of Corey Anderson triggered a collapse – it lost three wickets for two runs in 11 balls – and it needed Ross Taylor to hold the innings together.

Taylor finished on 60 not out from 56 balls with six fours with wickets falling around him as New Zealand failed to build on a second-wicket stand of 133 between Tom Latham, the captain, and Broom.

Earlier, Luke Ronchi lasted only five balls with Mustafizur Rahman breaching his defence in the second over.

Latham, on the back of his century against Ireland in the big victory on Sunday, picked up where he left off and found the boundary 11 times in his 92-ball innings of 84. Broom also posted a half-century before sweeping Nasir Hossain to square leg on 63. He faced 76 balls and hit seven fours.

It was Shakib who started the collapse as Jimmy Neesham, Santner and Colin Munro – all big hitters – were dismissed in successive overs. Matt Henry was also bowled by Rubel Hossain in the 48th over and Bangladesh had the momentum going into the break, which they ran with.