TUESDAY, JANUARY 17 , 2017 SPORTS New Zealand bowlers praised for overcoming first innings failings

WELLINGTON: After being flogged to parity,” Williamson said. around the for 595 runs, “It then really came down to the second New Zealand Kane Williamson felt innings and I guess (that’s) when we took his bowlers had responded superbly to set control of the game. “The guys were very up an improbable seven- first test good with the ball on a flat surface.” victory against Bangladesh on the final day Despite the obvious knock to confidence yesterday. Williamson scored his 15th test after scoring almost 600 then losing, to lead New Zealand to their tar- Mushfiqur’s side had plenty to be pleased get of 217 for the loss of three with with. They showed they can bat down to 17.2 overs remaining after Bangladesh had number seven and their main spinners been dismissed for 160 in their second Mehedi Hasan and are innings. “Credit to the bowlers with the world-class exponents of slow bowling. way they came back with a lot of energy Their inexperienced pace attack with after a tough first innings,” Williamson said. and Subashis Roy on debut, “To bowl Bangladesh out on a very good however, were unable to put New Zealand surface was a tough thing to do. under sustained pressure with the ball. “To bounce back and achieve that was “We didn’t execute our plans the way brilliant and it allowed us to chase down we should have and if we had, we could the total.” Bangladesh had achieved their have had a 200-run lead in the first second-highest test score in the first innings and it would have been a differ- innings when declared ent ball game,” Mushfiqur said. “If you their innings at 595 for eight. want to take a wicket in test you The hosts, however, responded with have to bowl consistently well and we 536 with scoring 177 as the couldn’t do that. “We had some great team produced several big partnerships to partnerships in the but didn’t get them close to Bangladesh’s mammoth have any in the bowling and we need to total. “To get as close as we did was a fan- do that if you want to get them out. “We tastic effort... lot of credit to Tom Latham will work on that and execute it better in with a big hundred to get us basically back the second Test.” — Reuters WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson bats during day five of the first international match between New Zealand and Bangladesh at the Basin Reserve in Wellington yesterday. — AFP Stoinis replaces Williamson fires New injured Marsh Zealand to stunning win

MELBOURNE: Victorian all-rounder Marcus Perth due to an ongoing neck injury. WELLINGTON: Kane Williamson scored his 15th Stoinis will replace the injured Mitchell Stoinis has a single one-day internation- century as New Zealand staged a remarkable SCOREBOARD Marsh in Australia’s al for Australia to his name, against England fightback to win the first Test against squad for the ongoing series against in 2015. The 27-year-old will play Bangladesh by seven wickets in the final session WELLINGTON, New Zealand: Scoreboard yesterday at the end of the first cricket test between New Zealand and Pakistan, Cricket Australia said yesterday. Melbourne Stars’ Big Bash Twenty20 match in Wellington yesterday. Bangladesh at the Basin Reserve. He described it has “a second-innings match” Fast bowling all-rounder Marsh has against Brisbane Heat on Tuesday before Bangladesh, 1st Innings 595-8 decl. 16-5-36-2, Neil Wagner 15-3-37-2 (1nb). been ruled out of the remainder of the five- he and leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who has where Bangladesh’s first innings 595 and New New Zealand, 1st Innings 539 match series with a shoulder injury, which been released from the squad to play in the Zealand’s 539 in reply were in effect removed Bangladesh, 2nd Innings (Overnight: 66-3) New Zealand, 2nd Innings he sustained in Australia’s six-wicket loss same match, join the one-day team in from the equation when the pressure went on. b Santner 25 Tom Latham b Mehedi 16 against Pakistan in the second one-dayer at Perth tomorrow. On a dramatic final day, the Bangladesh sec- Imrul Kayes 36 c and b Mehedi 13 the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. The series is tied at 1-1 after Australia ond innings ended on 160-9 with captain and c de Grandhomme b Wagner 23 Kane Williamson not out 104 Australia have already added batsman won the opener in Brisbane by 92 runs prolific scorer Mushfiqur Rahim rushed to hospi- c Watling b Wagner 5 c Mehedi b Roy 60 tal after being felled by a bouncer. He was later Mehedi Hasan run out 1 Henry Nicholls not out 4 Peter Handscomb to their squad with Chris before Pakistan bounced back in Shakib Al Hasan c Williamson b Santner 0 given the all-clear by doctors but took no further Extras (14b, 6lb) 20 Lynn ruled out of Thursday’s third ODI in Melbourne. —Reuters Sabbir Rahman c Watling b Boult 50 part in the game as Williamson and Ross Taylor TOTAL (for three wickets) 217 Mushfiqur Rahim retired hurt 13 launched a batting onslaught reach their 217- Taskin Ahmed b Boult 5 Overs: 39.4. Batting time: 176 minutes. run target with time to spare in the final session. Kamrul Islam c de Grandhomme b Southee 1 Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-39, 3-202. Williamson, who ended on 104 not out off 90 Subashis Roy b Boult 0 Did not bat: , B.J. Watling, balls, said he knew New Zealand had a chance Extras (1nb) 1 Mitchell Santner, , Neil Wagner, . when they managed to get their first innings TOTAL (all out) 160 Bowling: Kamrul Islam 7-0-31-0, Mehedi Hasan 11.4-0- within 56 runs of Bangladesh. Overs: 57.5. Batting time: 270 minutes. 66-2, Shakib Al Hasan 10-0-30-0, Taskin Ahmed 6-0-38-0, “From then on it became a second innings Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-63, 3-66, 4-66, 5-96, 6-137, 7-148, Subashis Roy 5-0-32-1. match... when you go into the last innings of a 8-152, 9-160. Result: New Zealand won by seven wickets. Test anything can happen,” he said, admitting to Bowling: Trent Boult 13.5-3-53-3, Tim Southee 13-5-34-1, Series: New Zealand leads the two-match series 1-0. some tense moments when New Zealand were 39 for two with Tom Latham departing for 16 who took over the captaincy, saying they only victory. Williamson brought up his century-lev- and Jeet Raval for 13. had themselves to blame. elling the scores with a sweep off Mehedi Hasan “Coming into last two sessions and either “In the second innings we could have batted to the boundary-before ending the game with a team could win it. That’s what Test cricket is well. (We were) unlucky in the sense regarding single off the next ball. about. “When you’re two for 30, 200 can be quite injury, yes, but we could have batted well,” he Bangladesh had been in command for nearly a long way away in the last innings.” Williamson said with the 595 never considered a match-win- four days, until their second innings lasted fewer defended the use of the bouncer as a legitimate ning innings. than 58 overs to end at 160 for nine. First weapon to pressure Bangladesh in their second “We always believed this Test match is not innings hero Shakib Al Hasan, whose 217 is a innings but admitted Mushfiqur’s injury did not over yet and there will be one session or period record high score for a Bangladesh batsman, help the tourists. of 20-25 overs for both the teams where whoev- lasted only five balls before going for nought. It er does well in that small session might win the was a disappointing sequel to their imposing UNWANTED RECORD Test match. first innings of 595 for eight declared, presenting “That certainly didn’t help Bangladesh’s “That’s what New Zealand did better than us them with the unwanted record of the highest cause. It was a great (159) first innings and it was and that’s why they are in winning position score in the first innings to lose a Test. The previ- very unfortunate he was out with the injury.” today.” Williamson and Ross Taylor (60) batted ous mark was set more than 120 years ago, MOTERA: An Indian official arranges a poster displaying the design of a proposed There were no complaints from Bangladesh raced along at more than six runs an over in when Australia scored 586 against England at cricket ceremony during the foundation-stone laying ceremony of the ground in about the outcome however, with Tamim Iqbal, their 163-run third wicket partnership to seal the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1894. —AFP Motera yesterday. — AFP

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Kohli proves king of hospitalized by bouncer the chase once more NEW DELHI: appears able to produce miracles with WELLINGTON: Bangladesh captain medical staff from both teams. Play was his bat and the captain masterminded yet another suc- Mushfiqur Rahim was taken to the hospital delayed by more than 20 minutes as para- cessful chase in Sunday’s run-feast against England to enhance by ambulance on Monday after being medics attended Mushfiqur, who lay his reputation as the second innings king of one-day cricket. struck in the head by a bouncer from Tim motionless on his back near the crease. Batting second allows a batsman to set his tempo accord- Southee on the final day of the first cricket Mushfiqur was then taken to nearby ing to demand, yet it is considered a true litmus test of stroke- test against New Zealand. Wellington Hospital. He is the second making excellence due to the constant scoreboard pressure. His condition was not immediately Bangladesh batsman to be taken to hospital This was never more evident than when the opposition known. Mushfiqur was already batting with by ambulance in this innings. Opening racked up 350 runs and reduced India to 63-4 like England did a broken finger and was 13 not out when batsman Imrul Kayes was stretchered from in Pune on Sunday, threatening to spoil Kohli’s first match in he tried to under a low bouncer and the field on Thursday after suffering a seri- charge since taking over the limited-overs captaincy. The 28- was struck on the back of the helmet. ous leg injury. Bangladesh was 114-5 in its year-old replied with a sublime 122, forging a 200-run part- He began to kneel, then collapsed to the second innings, leading New Zealand by nership with fellow centurion Kedar Jadhav, to help India ground and was immediately attended by 170 runs, when the incident occurred. — AP chase down the steep target with 11 balls to spare. Kohli’s ton equalled ’s record of 17 second innings cen- turies, a fact made even more remarkable considering he took 136 innings fewer than the retired great, who was quick to laud the centurions on Twitter. Former England captain Michael Vaughan was far more suc- cinct in his assessment of the India captain, who is ranked among the top two in all three formats of the game. “VIRAT KOHLI IS FROM ANOTHER PLANET #Fact,” Vaughan tweeted, fol- lowing it with another entry in which he rated the right-hander as the top batsman in each format. After winning the toss at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Kohli was probably unsure what would constitute a good total at the compact ven- ue hosting only its second one-day international. Rather unsurprisingly he opted to field and despite cutting a frustrated figure as England bludgeoned India late in their innings, Kohli was calmness personified when his 27th one-day ton helped the hosts take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. This was the third time India has chased down a 350-plus target and on each occasion Kohli has struck a century. Since his 2008 debut, India have overwhelmed targets of 300 or more on eight occasions and Kohli failed to get a century in just two of those wins. This was also the 15th time that a Kohli ton culminated in a successful chase, more than any other batsman has managed in this format. India’s batting mainstay averages a mind-boggling 91 in suc- cessful one-day chases but his away record is slightly less impressive. Of his 17th second innings centuries, eight came in PUNE: This file photo taken on Sunday shows India’s captain Virat Kohli away matches and only four outside Asia, including one in celebrating after India won the first One-Day International (ODI) cricket Harare. Having built an almost impregnable game and fuelled match against England at The MCA International Cricket Stadium in Pune. WELLINGTON: Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim lifted onto a stretcher by ambulance by an insatiable hunger for runs, Kohli is unlikely to settle for just India skipper Virat Kohli has said the self-belief in the team to win from staff and teammates after being hit in the head during day five of the first interna- South Asian dominance and will look to export his second any situation is what drove the hosts to chase down 350 against England tional Test cricket match between New Zealand and Bangladesh at the Basin Reserve innings excellence to grounds all over the world. —Reuters in the first one-day international in Pune. — AFP in Wellington yesterday. — AFP