Wellington: Maiden centuries from Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell helped New Zealand thrash Bangladesh by 164 runs in the third and final ODI sealing series 3-0, here on Friday.
After winning toss and opting to bat first, New Zealand opener Henry Nicholls fell for 18 to Taskin Ahmed (1/52) in the eighth over. He was shortly joined back in the pavilion by opening partner Martin Guptill, who perished for 26 to Rubel Hossain (3/70) in the very next over.
Hossain struck again in the 11th over, taking Ross Taylor’s outside edge for seven, reducing New Zealand to 57/3.
Thereafter, captain Tom Latham and Devon Conway put the pressure back onto the touring team. They put on 63 runs for New Zealand’s fourth wicket.
Just as the Black Caps looked set to launch, Latham fell for 18 to Soumya Sarkar (1/37). Unfortunately for Bangladesh, the dismissal did little to slow New Zealand down.
Conway raced along to his half-century in just 52 deliveries as Daryl Mitchell got his eye in before signalling his intentions with a six over midwicket off the bowling of Hasan Miraz (0/23).
The pair put on a 159-run stand, with Mitchell reaching fifty in 63 balls for the first time in ODI cricket.
Conway raced through the 80s and 90s, striking back-to-back boundaries off Mahedi Hasan (0/46) before raising his ton by hammering Taskin through point for his first ODI century in just his third match. He finally got out in the 48th over for 126 off 110 deliveries, receiving a standing ovation from the Basin Reserve crowd after being dismissed by Mustafizur.
Dropped on 63 by Mahmadullah in the 45th over, Daryl Mitchell scored his maiden hundred in the 50th over and took Black Caps to 318-6 in 50 overs. His unbeaten ton came off 92 balls, and was punctuated by nine fours and two sixes.
In reply, Bangladesh’s chase of 319 was virtually over inside the first seven overs itself as Matt Henry (4/27) ran riot.
The seamer had Tamim Iqbal caught behind for one in the third over, before bouncing out Sarkar for the same score in the fifth.
Soon, Liton Das (21) top-edged a pull against Henry down to third man where Boult sprinted hard to his left before diving full length to catch it and leave Bangladesh limping at 26/3 in the seventh over.
The Tigers looked to rebuild from there, but the more they dug in the steeper the required run rate climbed. Eventually, the pressure told as Mohammad Mithun fell for six off 39 balls to Kyle Jamieson (1/30).
A triple strike from Neesham duly reduced the visitors to 82/7 and from there it was a simple matter of cleaning up the tail and containing Mahmadullah.
Mahmadullah played a fighting 76* but wickets kept falling from the other end as Neesham, who finished with a brilliant 5/27, picked up the last wicket of Rahman to bowl Bangladesh out for 154 in the 43rd over. (UNI)