Published: Mar 13, 2015, 04:35 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 13, 2015, 04:35 PM (IST)
New Zealand have looked invincible in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 and the only side that posed a serious challenge for them was Bangladesh, who have had the better of the Kiwis in their past seven encounters.
Eventually the Kiwis managed to make it six-out-of-six to end their pool stage unbeaten. This also happened to be their eighth consecutive One-Day International (ODI) win in a row. The other good news for New Zealand is the fact that opener Martin Guptill, who was getting starts but wasn’t able to convert those, scored a brilliant 105 from just 100 balls. (ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Points Table)
Winning the toss in the small ground at Seddon Park in Hamilton, New Zealand put Bangladesh in, hoping to bowl them out, as till then they had done the same to all their opponents in the tournament but Bangladesh batsmen braved it out with Mahmudullah once again leading from the front. The batsman scored an unbeaten 128 from 123 balls, and was well supported by Soumya Sarkar (51) and Sabbir Rahman, who scored quick 40 from 23 balls. This was Mahmudullah’s second consecutive hundred in the World Cup and it helped Bangladesh put up a fighting 288.
New Zealand lost two early wickets at the start, and the wickets were of the in-form Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson. McCullum, who had earlier displayed tremendous athleticism on field, could just manage eight, while Williamson fell for one. Guptill added 131 with Ross Taylor and put New Zealand in a strong position. Taylor crawled his way to 56, while quick 39s from both – Grant Elliott and Corey Anderson kept the side in the hunt.
The match got more close to New Zealand’s liking, as they kept catching-up with the run-rate. Late flourishes from veteran Daniel Vettori and Tim Southee helped New Zealand sneak a win by three wickets in the 49th over.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 288 for 7 in 50 overs (Soumya Sarkar 51, Mahmudullah 128*, Sabbir Rahman 40) lost to New Zealand 290 for 7 in 48.5 overs (Martin Guptill 105, Ross Taylor 56, Grant Elliott 39, Corey Anderson 39; Shakib Al Hasan 4-55) – by three wickets
