New Zealand were braced to defend a below-par first innings score in the first session of the second day. BJ Watling and Trent Boult slowly developed a mischievous plan that has been repeated seven times already this year. They fended off the Bangladesh bowlers first, then got comfortable, soon they were dominating the attack and New Zealand were in charge of the Chittagong Test.
Watling and Boult, the tenth wicket pair, added 127 runs. It shot their total up from 342 for 9 to 469 all out by the end of the second session. Watling completed a second Test century off 171 balls. He was finally dismissed for 103 while Boult was unbeaten on 52 - the fifteenth time a No. 11 has made a half-century in Tests.
The visitors added 189 runs on the last day, after which Bangladesh went to stumps at 103 for 2 with Mominul Haque, on 77 off 71 balls, and debutant Marshall Ayub at the crease.
But the home side were shaken by New Zealand's late charge, and it was evident in how they lost two wickets in the first 3.3 overs. Opener Tamim Iqbal chased a slightly full ball while Anamul Haque was done by Doug Bracewell's predictable inward movement. Mominul and Ayub, however, stopped the rot till the end of day's play, as they added 95 runs for the third wicket.
It was Tamim's first-ever golden duck, and the shot he played wasn't much of a surprise. It is one that has fetched him boundaries throughout his career, but here Boult got the ball to move slightly towards the slips. Kane Williamson, fresh from two sessions of rest, took a fine catch at gully that greatly delighted captain Brendan McCullum.
Anamul had survived an edge to slip off a no-ball in the second ball of the innings from Doug Bracewell. But it wasn't for too long, as he was done by the same bowler's in-ducker that was as predictable as Anamul's gap between bat and pad.
But as Ayub's confidence grew after a few overs when he looked genuinely nervous. He left and ducked any delivery that shouldn't be bothered with, playing only those within his reach as he mostly defended and letting Mominul do the scoring.
Quite different than his usual dour method of batting, Mominul went after New Zealand who committed the mistake of bowling too wide to him at first and then too full. He latched onto Bruce Martin's left-arm spin, taking him for three boundaries in a row in his first over. In the next over, he struck Bracewell for three more on either side of the ground. There were six more boundaries, and each one in front of the wicket.
He completed his third half-century off 36 balls, the second fastest for Bangladesh. Ayub supported him quite well for a debutant but they are still some ways short of doing what Boult and Watling did for the first half the day.
The duo put on the fourth-highest final wicket stand for New Zealand, and also the second-highest against Bangladesh, after the 133 added by Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan in 2004.
Watling was the more technical of the two, but didn't have to sweat too much when he left Boult on strike. Boult was severe on the Bangladesh spinners, particularly Shakib Al Hasan who was struck twice for sixes over deep midwicket.
Watling also survived an early let-off when he was on four. Rubel Hossain, who had bounced out nightwatchman Bruce Martin for the first wicket of the day, was celebrating when Nasir Hossain safely held an edge from Watling at gully but a replay asked by the on-field umpires confirmed a no-ball by Rubel, who has been quite regular in stepping over the line.
Razzak bowled the most, 55 overs, taking three for 147. Sohag Gazi took two wickets while there was one each for Rubel, Nasir and Mominul.
New Zealand 280 for 5 (Williamson 114, Fulton 73) v Bangladesh
Kane Williamson and Peter Fulton were looking quite comfortable, until the Bangladesh spinners found their mojo in the final hour. New Zealand went to stumps on 280 for 5, having lost their last three wickets in 10.1 overs in the first Test in Chittagong.
After controlled batting had kept all three spinners out of the game on a newly-laid pitch, the fourth and the fifth wickets came in the last two overs, when Williamson, having made 114, and captain Brendon McCullum were adjudged leg-before to Shakib Al Hasan and Abdur Razzak respectively.
The visitors' progress throughout the day was a fair reflection of the conditions. There was no pace in the wicket even at its freshest, and it didn't change much throughout the day. But the two batsmen, as well as Hamish Rutherford and later Ross Taylor, made friends with the straw-coloured surface quicker than the bowlers would have hoped.
Bangladesh included Abdur Razzak for his first Test match in more than two years in hopes of fielding a more rounded attack and just after the first hour, all three spinners had been brought in. But the wickets did not materialise.
The swiftness with which the New Zealand top four acclimatised must have been encouraging for the next batsmen. Williamson was the most impressive, adjusting quickly as if he suddenly remembered how he had scored his first ODI hundred in Dhaka. Even then, his timing was noticeable.
Today he was as tight in defence as he was forceful when the ball was off line. Coming at the back of a first wicket which was needlessly given away by Rutherford, Williamson avoided rash strokeplay. A backfoot dab through mid-on off the first ball he faced, from Shakib Al Hasan, was perhaps the most elegant shot of the day, but the best one of his 12 boundaries came four balls later - another light punch off the back foot to turn the ball past mid-wicket. The two shots set him up for the rest of the innings, as the Bangladesh spinners struggled to push the ball through, or use the slow nature of the wicket to their benefit.
Williamson's next seven boundaries were all examples of how a batsman's patience is more often than not rewarded. A majority of them were off short balls, as the bowlers lost their discipline, and soon he reached his half-century off 94 balls.
Fulton struggled early on when he repeatedly tried to work the ball in front of the leg side. But after surviving some close calls, he too reached his first fifty since his twin centuries against England in Auckland. His 73 came off 198 balls, with seven fours and a six as he became increasingly comfortable knocking the spinners around, finding the gaps and bringing out the sweep shot once in a while. It was a slow innings, but one that laid the foundation for New Zealand's dominance on the day.
Their 126-run stand - New Zealand's highest for the second wicket in Bangladesh - wasn't exactly unexpected because the hosts are used to being on the backfoot when bowling first. But given their attack, it was expected that the pair would be forced into a mistake, which eventually came off Nasir Hossain's part-time off spin. Fulton had a century in his sights when he smashed a half-tracker straight to cover and walked off the field looking very distraught.
Williamson reached his century off 175 balls, a confident knock that was pleasing to the eyes, particularly when he punched the ball off either foot. But it was his strong-willed defence that contributed to his innings the most.
Along with Ross Taylor, he added 61 runs for the third wicket, which ended when Taylor's flick found a leading edge and fell safely into cover's hands while Rutherford, the day's first wicket, was another batsman being defeated by his own impetuousness.
Williamson was dismissed for 114, having batted more than four hours. His forward prod at Shakib missed the bat, and he was given out leg-before in the penultimate over of the day. McCullum fell in the final over, having played back while trying to flick a ball off Razzak, who was bowling quicker than he had done all day.
Despite the five wickets, the day's play promises much for New Zealand looking ahead in the series. They started off quite well on a new surface, which might not impress their pace bowlers much. The plan from the home side would be to diminish the pace and movement of Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell, and hope the wicket gets better as the match progresses.
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