It was an historic day for Bangladesh Cricket as they defeated New Zealand by 5 wickets at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff just few moments ago. The New Zealand team batted first and was well placed at 201 for 3 but wickets at the end helped Bangladesh to restrict Kiwis to 265. Despite Bangladesh being 33 for 4, Shakib- AL- Hasan and Mahmdullah partnership helped them to register one of their famous wins. They won by 5 wickets with 16 balls to spare. This is the third upset of the tournament.
New captain Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat at Cardiff today. Martin Guptill and Luke Ronchi gave the team a quick fire start putting on 46 runs in the first 7 overs. Luke Ronchi was dismissed by Taskin Ahmed. The captain came to the crease and continued his brilliant form. At the end of 10 overs, New Zealand was 60 for 1. After scoring 33 runs, Guptill was leg before the wicket by Rubel Hossain. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor put up an important 83 runs for the third wicket. The captain completed his half century in 58 balls. The captain was dismissed for 57.
Ross Taylor showed his class by completing his fifty in 67 balls and Neil Broom gave him support. From 201 for 4 in the 39th over, the New Zealand batsmen lost their way at the end overs scoring just 64 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Mortaza gave a bowl to Mosadeek Hossain and did not disappoint him. He took 3 important wickets giving away just 13 runs. The Kiwis team was restricted to a modest total of 265 for 8 in 50 overs.
Chasing the target of 266, Bangladesh got off to a worse start losing the wicket of in-form batsman Tamim Iqbal off the second ball by Tim Southee. Both Southee and Trent Boult troubled the Bangladesh batsmen with swing and bounce. Tim Southee picked the wickets of Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman to leave Bangladesh at 12 for 3 in 4.4 overs. At the end of 10 overs, Bangladesh was struggling at 24 for 3.
Adam Milne took the wicket of Rahim to leave Bangladesh in more trouble at 33 for 4. Â Shakib- Al- Hasan and Mahmudllah steadied the innings with positive intent from the left hand batsmen and Mahmudllah. It was great batting by both of these batsmen who showed class by taking singles and hitting the bad balls away for boundaries. Shakib- AL Hasan and Mahmudllah completed their half centuries in 62 and 58 balls respective. They continued to play New Zealand bowlers. AL Hasan completed his century in 111 balls. Both of them put on a record 224 runs stand for the fifth wicket. He was dismissed by Trent Boult.
Mahmudllah completed his century in 107 balls. Bangladesh won the match by 5 wickets with 16 balls to spare.
Bangladesh 268 for 5 in 47.2 overs ( Shakib- AL- Hasan 114, Mahmudllah 102*, Tim Southee 3/45) beat New Zealand 265 for 8 in 50 overs (Ross Taylor 63, Kane Williamson 57) by 5 wickets
Bangladesh 2, New Zealand 0
England will play Australia in the next match tomorrow.
