New Zealand hammered Bangladesh to win the match by 9 wickets.
Bangladesh batted first and their openers found it very tough to score off Bond and Oram. Hence the openers set up a sedate 55 run partnership until Oram got rid of both openers(Omar(22 runs) & Iqbal(29 runs).
Although the first four top-order batsman got off to decent starts, Kiwi bowlers bowled tightly and got crucial break throughs at regular intervals. None of the Bangladesh batsman showed the will to play a great innings. To add to their hapless batting(sheerly due to lack of exposure to great bowling attacks),they lost the wicket of Bashar due to careless running. Bashar was run-out by a direct hit from Oram as he was too slow going for the second run and didn't even bother to dive in order to reach his crease.This triggered a collapse as Bangladesh lost their last six wickets for just 52 runs. Only Mohammed Rafique (30 not out) helped Bangladesh to reach 174.
Styris (4/43), Oram (3/30), and Bond (2/15) were the main contributors with the ball.
Fleming Shines: Fleming scored a scintillating 102 not out (10 fours and 3 sixes) and he was well assisted by Hamish Marshall (50 not out 2 fours and 1 Six). New Zealand reached the target with 9 wickets and more than 20 overs to spare. The wicket of Peter Fulton(15) was the only wicket to fall.
By winning against Bangladesh, New Zealand have now virtually assured themselves of a place in the semis.
Bangladesh, in my opinion, would be lucky to win even two matches in the quarters. Bangladesh coach, Whatmore, needs to realise that although his team is talented, they still lack the exposure and firepower to win against teams like Australia, New Zealand, Srilanka etc. The need of the hour for Bangladesh is exposure against great bowling attacks.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment