Recent Match Report – New Zealand vs Bangladesh 2nd Test 2021/22
Bangladesh ended the second day 126 all out, behind by a mammoth 395 runs
Bangladesh 126 (Yasir 55, Nurul 41, Boult 5-43, Southee 3-28) trail New Zealand 521 for 6 dec (Latham 252, Conway 109, Blundell 57*, Shoriful 2-79) by 395 runs
All those big runs set the ideal platform for Boult and Southee who swung the ball around on command. Boult got his ninth five-wicket haul, while Southee and Kyle Jamieson shared five between them.
In the hour leading into the tea break, Bangladesh’s top-order went kaput. Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain Shanto both fell to Boult in similar fashion: giving Latham catches at second slip. Shadman could have left his but Shanto had no choice but to edge a peach of a delivery.
Southee accounted for debutant Mohammad Naim and captain Mominul Haque, both bowled. Naim, playing his first first-class match in two years, dragged a rising delivery outside off-stump on to his stumps, going for a five-ball duck. Mominul missed Southee’s fuller delivery, hitting his leg-stump when he tried to flick the ball.
Nurul fell lbw to Southee, having made 41 off 62 balls with four boundaries. He was enterprising, as was Yasir, but Mehidy Hasan couldn’t quite emulate his useful 47 from the first Test. He became Boult’s 300th Test wicket when he got bowled by a delivery slanting in from around the wicket. Taskin Ahmed gave Jamieson his first wicket when he skied him to midwicket, where Will Young took a good catch.
Yasir reached his fifty shortly afterwards, looking in a bit of a hurry with Bangladesh eight down. He fell to Jamieson trying to get some big hits under his belt, before Boult took the last wicket of Shoriful Islam.
New Zealand started the day by celebrating too. Conway, not out overnight on 99, struck a four off the first ball to reach three-figures and continue his grand form at the start of his Test career. He clattered Mehidy for a straight six, apart from 12 fours, mostly on the off-side including some great cover drives and plenty of runs down the ground and behind square on the off-side. But, on 109, he was finally run out when Mehidy struck with a direct hit swooping in from the covers.
Nicholls lasted four balls before Ebadot Hossain had him caught behind. Shoriful had Daryl Mitchell caught behind too at the stroke of lunch, giving Bangladesh a bit of reprieve.
Tom Blundell however hit back with 57 off 60 balls in the first hour after lunch. He struck eight fours, while Latham forced the pace with two sixes off Mominul. But an attempt to get a third in the over ended up as a skied catch to midwicket Yasir. That was perhaps the last time Bangladesh had something going in their favour in the match.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84