Bracewell, Conway shine as NZ sweep past Bangladesh

Bracewell, Conway shine as NZ sweep past Bangladesh


Riding on Devon Conway's unbeaten 70, New Zealand easily chased down Bangladesh's total of 137 at Hagley Oval on Sunday, to register their first win of the tri-series.





For what reason were Bangladesh restricted to 137?

Their innings never truly got the energy it required. Excepting a consistent second-wicket stand of 41 runs between Liton Das and Najmul Shanto, after Mehidy Hasan fell early, they never looked in control. New Zealand bowlers continued to chipping with wickets at frequent intervals, and aside from Nurul Hasan, who hit a few healthy blows towards the end in transit his unbeaten 12-ball 25, Bangladesh batters struggled against the hosts.

Who was responsible for keeping Bangladesh batters in check?

It was an collective exertion from the bowling unit, with Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Michael Bracewell and Ish Sodhi picking a support each. The breakdown however was set off by the twist team of Sodhi and Bracewell through the middle overs, beginning with the dismissal of Liton, who was earlier dropped on a duck. Right when it appeared to be that Bangladesh's innings was changing to a higher gear, Liton top edged a flat batted pull back to Bracewell. Sodhi picked a couple more one after another from there on to diminish the side from 43 for 1 to 66 for 4, with both the set players dismissed.

Could Bangladesh not recover from that point?

They attempted to with a 24-run stand between Shakib Al Hasan (who left to bat at No 7) and Afif Hossain for the 6th wicket, however the veteran speed couple of Boult and Southee got back to wreck their innings further. Both the hitters were foxed and dismissed by more slower deliveries. Nurual hammered a couple of sixes to end Sodhi's spell in the penultimate over of the innings but it only helped Bangladesh reach a sub-par 137.

How were New Zealand in the chase?

Clinical.

Indeed, even as Shriful dismissed Finn Allen on a 18-ball 16 in the fourth over, New Zealand were never rushed in the run chase. Kane Williamson and Devon Conway were consistent in the chase, to a great extent depending on working the ball around in gaps for singles and twos. In any case, Conway didn't give up off the boundary-scoring open opportunities, taking care of deliveries that were excessively short, wide or full with scorn. The couple didn't turn to such a large number of arial shots and put on a 85-run stand in 66 balls for the second wicket to everything except seal the fate of the contest.

Williamson fell in the last ball of the fifteenth over, actually take a look at driving Hasan Mahmud to the mid on fielder, but Conway and Glenn Phillips guaranteed there could have been no further obstacles en route. The latter, especially, didn't want to stretch the contest too far and got going with a first-ball boundary over the infield off Shakib. His brief nine-ball 23-run stay included two boundaries and two sixes, the last two of which helped the hosts cross the line.

Brief Scores: Bangladesh 137/8 in 20 overs (Najmul Shanto 33, Nurul Hasan 25*; Michael Bracewell 2-14, Trent Boult 2-25) lost to New Zealand 142/2 in 17.5 overs (Devon Conway 70*, Kane Williamson 30; Hasan Mahmud 1-26) by 8 wickets.



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