Day 1
Bangladesh 289 (84.3 ov)
New Zealand
Tim Southee and Trent Boult shared nine wickets as New Zealand bowled Bangladesh out for 289, pegging the visitors back after a 127-run third-wicket stand between Soumya Sarkar and Shakib Al Hasan had threatened to set up a big first-innings total on a flat Hagley Oval surface. The Sarkar-Shakib stand, rattling along at 4.98 per over, had moved Bangladesh to 165 for 2 in the 36th over before Boult and Southee turned the day around with three wickets in the space of 17 balls.
The pace and texture of the day was transformed. The last five Bangladesh wickets stretched the innings out by a further 46 overs, during which time they scored 110 runs, with the lower order - particularly the debutants Nurul Hasan and Nazmul Hossain Shanto, who added 53 for the sixth wicket - batting resolutely and New Zealand helping them with some puzzling tactics. Kane Williamson, their captain, did not use their specialist spinner Mitchell Santner all day, and got his quicks to pepper the lower order with incessant short balls, not changing tack even after taking the second new ball.
The short ball dismissed Nazmul, Taskin Ahmed and Nurul, but by no means swiftly, and dealt the No. 11 Rubel Hossain a jarring blow to the elbow, but it was hard not to wonder if the fast bowlers wouldn't have been better served bowling a good length and looking for some swing. It was via this method that Southee ended Bangladesh's innings with his fifth wicket, pinging Kamrul Islam Rabbi's back pad in front of middle and off stump with late away-swing from a good length. Kamrul faced 63 balls to score 2, and added 32 for the last two wickets - in 18 overs - with Nurul and Rubel.
New Zealand could have wrapped up the innings far more swiftly had they held on to their catches. Nurul alone enjoyed three lives. On 4, he reached out to a wide one from Boult and nicked towards third slip, where the ball bounced off Southee's hard hands. Then, on 21, he sparred at Colin de Grandhomme with an open bat-face, and bisected first and second slip, leaving Ross Taylor and Jeet Raval looking questioningly at each other. Finally, on 36, he jabbed at a short one from Neil Wagner angled across his body, and Taylor got his hands in a tangle while going for a straightforward chance coming at his chest.
In all, it wasn't the greatest day for New Zealand's catchers; Raval, diving across from second slip, had dropped Sarkar off de Grandhomme on 52, denying Taylor what would have been a simple shoulder-high chance.
Still, New Zealand will have been pleased to restrict Bangladesh to under 300 after the start they had made. The turnaround began in the ninth over after lunch, when Boult got a fullish ball to stop on Sarkar and leave him off the pitch as he strode forward to drive; checking his shot; he only managed to spoon a catch into the covers. Then came a perfectly delivered short ball angled across Sabbir Rahman to square him up and produce a nick to the slips. Four balls later, Shakib overbalanced a touch while trying to glance Southee and tickled a catch down the leg side.
Sarkar, making a comeback thanks to a spate of injuries to Bangladesh's players, made his maiden Test fifty and eventually fell 14 short of a hundred. It was an odd innings, defined by his willingness to go after anything remotely close to his driving arc, often stroking the ball on the up, and while it looked pretty when it came off, it often didn't, as his control percentage - 74 - suggested. His innings contained its share of plays-and-misses, airy drives that sneaked into gaps, and edges that streaked to the third-man boundary.
At the other end, Shakib was equally keen to drive on the up, but looked more secure while doing so, his footwork and weight transfer indicating the form he was in, coming off a double-hundred in the first Test. Both batsmen also pulled with authority, the fast bowlers' attempts at banging it in short causing little discomfort on a pitch with true bounce but not a lot of pace.
Sent in to bat under largely blue skies, Bangladesh's patched-up top order had to contend with a new-ball pair generating swing consistently. Southee struck in the fourth over, cramping Tamim Iqbal, Bangladesh's stand-in captain, with a short, rising ball that came back in towards the left-hand batsman's right armpit. Looking to tuck it away into the leg side, Tamim only managed to glove it to the keeper.
Mahmudullah and Sarkar then added 31 brisk but uneasy runs as Southee and Boult continued to swing the new ball and beat their edges. Twice in a row, Boult bent the ball back through the gap between bat and pad after angling it across Mahmudullah, and missed the off stump by inches. Two balls later, he had a confident caught-behind appeal turned down when a short ball climbed awkwardly at the batsman. New Zealand reviewed Paul Reiffel's not-out decision, and technology confirmed the ball had gone past bat and brushed only right shoulder.
Boult didn't have to wait much longer, though. In only his next over - the 11th of Bangladesh's innings - Mahmudullah drove away from his body and outside the line of another inwardly curling delivery, and BJ Watling dived to his left behind the wickets to pluck an excellent catch off the inside edge.
Day 2
Bangladesh 289
New Zealand 260/7 (71.0 ov)
New Zealand trail by 29 runs with 3 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Rain brought day two to an early end after three wickets in two overs from Shakib Al Hasan had left the second Test delicately poised. Replying to Bangladesh's 289, New Zealand had slid from 252 for 4 to 260 for 7 when bad weather arrived some 20 minutes from scheduled close of play, ending a seesawing day in which New Zealand had routinely held the upper hand only for quick losses of wickets to stall their progress.
First, New Zealand had capitalised on two dropped catches and moved to 46 for 0 before Kamrul Islam Rabbi pegged them back with two wickets in three balls. Then a 106-run third-wicket partnership between Tom Latham and Ross Taylor, which rattled along at 4.41 per over, put Bangladesh on the back foot only for both to fall, against the run of play, in the space of 8.5 overs. Shakib's triple-strike came after another meaty partnership - 75 for the fifth wicket between Henry Nicholls and Mitchell Santner. Nicholls was batting on 56 at stumps, with New Zealand seven down and trailing by 29 runs.
Shakib, Bangladesh's most experienced bowler, had only been used for four overs when he came back into the attack to start the 67th of New Zealand's innings. His under-utilisation may have had something to do with the fact that left-handers comprised four of New Zealand's top six, but if that was the case, it reflected one-track thinking from their captain Tamim Iqbal, for within four balls of his new spell, Shakib dismissed a stodgy left-hander.
Playing for turn, Santner went on the back foot to work Shakib, bowling from left-arm over, into the leg side. The lack of turn, however, left him in a fully open position and he ended up playing across the line and missing by a long way. The ball hit his back pad in front of middle stump. Reviewing Paul Reiffel's out decision, Santner had to walk back without technology either upholding or rejecting it, as ball-tracking failed to materialise. Umpire's call seemed the likely outcome, with the ball looking like it may have gone on to clip leg stump. New Zealand got their review back, but not their No. 6.
Bowling with a low arm from around the wicket and getting the ball to skid on towards the stumps, Shakib gobbled up BJ Watling and Colin de Grandhomme in his next over. Both played for the turn, and both were bowled playing unneccessarily aggressive shots. Watling chopped on an attempted cut, de Grandhomme played a loose drive, leaving a massive gap for the ball to sneak through.
If the scorecard at stumps was an indictment of New Zealand's batsmen for frittering away their starts, it also flattered Bangladesh's bowlers, who were frustratingly inconsistent for most of the day. They began excellently in the first session, lost their discipline in the second, and seemed to be letting the game drift in the third before Shakib intervened.
Taskin Ahmed, though, was excellent with the new ball, beating the outside edge four times in his first three overs, and finding Jeet Raval's edge in his sixth, only for Sabbir Rahman, moving to his right from second slip, to grass a knee-high catch. Taskin troubled the two left-handed openers so frequently because of his line, which didn't allow the comfortable leave despite his angle across them, his length, which was usually on the fuller side of good, and every now and again a bit of seam movement towards the slips. He did overpitch on a few occasions - Latham in particular capitalised with three splendid, full-faced drives to the straight boundary - but that did not cause him to pull his length back at any point.
Mehedi Hasan opened the bowling with Taskin, extracted bounce, and created a chance in his first over, provoking a drive away from the body from Raval that resulted in a low chance that Mahmudullah, rising too quickly at second slip, shelled. Raval didn't do much with his two lives. The opening partnership had stretched to 46 before Kamrul, coming on as second change, broke through in the 15th over, his first. Trying to pull one that was perhaps not short enough, Raval was cramped for room and only managed a bottom-edge onto the stumps.
Two balls later, New Zealand were two down. Kane Williamson may be among the hardest players in the world to dismiss, but even he could do little when confronted with the perfect late outswinger - full enough to draw him forward but not so full that he could get close to the pitch of it, its initial line close enough to off stump to force him to play, and its movement late enough to prevent him from adjusting and withdrawing his bat. Wicketkeeper Nurul Islam tumbled to his right to take his first catch in Test cricket.
Latham batted serenely through the first session, never following the ball with his hands even when he was beaten, and had only one real moment of discomfort, when the slingy Rubel Hossain bowled a bouncer that didn't rise as much as expected. Latham was unable to sway away in time, and the ball crunched into his helmet grille and sent the protective attachment at the back of his neck flying.
By lunch, Latham and Taylor had added 23, and had seen out some tight bowling from Bangladesh's quicks. Their discipline suffered after the break, though, and boundary balls grew frequent. Taylor, who has looked in excellent touch since the series against Pakistan - thanks in part to adopting a consciously side-on approach, with front shoulder pointing down the pitch rather than opening out to mid-on - drove fluently through the covers in addition to showing off his usual strengths of cutting and working the ball off his legs.
The first 13 overs of the post-lunch session brought 83 runs at 6.38, including nine fours and two sixes, and New Zealand seemed to be running away with the game, when Bangladesh profited from a loss of concentration from Latham on 68. Looking to cut one that wasn't quite wide enough for the shot, he top-edged Taskin in the first over after drinks.
Taylor could have followed him seven overs later, when he misread the flight of an offbreak from Mehedi and whipped it in the air to deep square leg, only for Kamrul, diving forward, to drop the low chance. He was on 75 at that point, had already brought up one landmark - becoming the third New Zealander to pass 6000 Test runs - and seemed set to bring up another and equal the late Martin Crowe, his mentor, on 17 Test hundreds. But that wasn't to be; he had added only two runs to his score when he drove too early at Mehedi in his next over and spooned a catch to short midwicket.
Day 3
Bangladesh 289
New Zealand 260/7 (71.0 ov)
New Zealand trail by 29 runs with 3 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Persistent rain ruled out any chance of play on the third day of the second Test at Hagley Oval. Having begun at around 6am, the rain never really let up through the morning and afternoon, eventually forcing the umpires to call off play at 4 pm, two hours before the scheduled close.
With 17 wickets falling over the first two days, there was still a fair chance of the Test match ending in a decisive result, given better weather on days four and five. At stumps on day two, New Zealand were trailing Bangladesh's first-innings total of 289 by 29 runs, with three wickets in hand, having lost three quick wickets to Shakib Al Hasan's left-arm spin.
Day 4
New Zealand 354 and 111 for 1 beat Bangladesh 289 and 173 by nine wickets
For the second time in successive Test matches, Bangladesh imploded in the second innings after holding their own in a neck-and-neck first innings battle. Once again, their batsmen played a significant role in their own downfall. Having started the day on level terms, they conceded a lead of 65, before collapsing spectacularly in their second innings, with the bulk of their batsmen gifting New Zealand their wicket.
Set a target of 109, New Zealand romped to a nine-wicket win in 18.4 overs, with the promotion of Colin de Grandhomme - who struck an unbeaten 33 off 15 balls, with four sixes including two in two balls off Nazmul Hossain Shanto to seal the win - ensuring they completed the job on the fourth day itself, some ten minutes into the half-hour extension.
After a third day lost to rain, the fourth had begun with Henry Nicholls falling two short of a maiden Test hundred and helping New Zealand gain a first-innings lead of 65. It was a useful lead, but only that. Given New Zealand had to bat last, the match was still in the balance when Bangladesh began their second innings towards the tail-end of an extended first session. By tea, however, they were halfway through yet another second-innings meltdown, and were 100 for 5 - effectively 35 for 5 - with only one of their wickets falling to a defensive shot.
Bangladesh lost Tamim Iqbal inside the 10 overs they needed to bat out before lunch, the stand-in captain top-edging a hook off Tim Southee. After the break came a period of calm, with Soumya Sarkar stroking the ball fluently and Mahmudullah defending resolutely during a second-wicket stand of 41. With Bangladesh seven runs short of wiping out their deficit, though, Sarkar attempted to steer Colin de Grandhomme to third man - a risky proposition given three fielders in the cordon - and middled the ball to gully.
Shakib Al Hasan edged his first ball between second slip and gully, trying a similar open-faced steer, and reached out a long way from his body to try and cut the next ball. Raval put down a straightforward low chance. If anyone thought that moment would cause Shakib to thank his lucky stars and knuckle down, they were wrong; having only faced four more balls, he tried to cut Southee without making any attempt to keep the ball down, and guided the ball straight to backward point.
Ten overs later, Mahmudullah - who had seen off a period of good-length bowling and another of short-pitched bowling from Southee and Neil Wagner - tried to drive Wagner on the up, and chopped on. By now it looked as if the next wicket could come off any ball. Walking down the pitch to de Grandhomme, Nazmul Hossain Shanto somehow survived despite playing a series of wafts outside off. Sabbir Rahman swished and missed twice, while still on 0, against Wagner.
Something had to give, and finally a wicket came off a wicket-taking ball, off what turned out to be the last ball before tea, Sabbir caught behind off the shoulder of his bat when Wagner got one to rise awkwardly in the corridor.
Within 7.3 overs of the final session, 100 for 5 had become 115 for 8, with the short ball sending off Nurul Hasan and Mehedi Hasan either side of a scorching Trent Boult yorker that took out Nazmul's middle stump. Then came Bangladesh's biggest partnership - 51 in eight overs - as Taskin Ahmed and Kamrul Islam Rabbi backed away from their stumps and swung at New Zealand's overdone short-ball attack, before Boult ended it with another yorker. Southee ensured each of New Zealand's three frontline quicks finished with three-fors, Rubel Hossain top-edging a pull to the keeper. Bangladesh had only lasted 52.5 overs in their final innings of the tour.
How different things had been at the start of the day's play, with New Zealand 260 for 7 in their first innings, trailing by 29 runs. They turned that deficit into a lead of 65 thanks to Nicholls, who added 30 for the eighth wicket with Tim Southee and 57 for the ninth with Neil Wagner.
Runs flowed freely at the start of the day's play, with 20 coming off the first four overs, and Mehedi giving New Zealand a helping hand by dropping Southee at second slip off Kamrul. It didn't prove too costly, with Southee only adding two runs to his score before driving Shakib Al Hasan uppishly to short extra-cover, where Mehedi made amends with a sharp grab.
Bangladesh's next fielding lapse, however, was more expensive. Extra bounce from Taskin Ahmed with the second new ball forced Wagner to fend to gully, where Nazmul put down a regulation chance. Next ball, Taskin had a loud lbw appeal upheld after straightening one into the left-hander from right-arm over, only for a review to earn the batsman the most marginal of reprieves, with the ball falling millimeters foul of the thin line between "pitching outside leg stump" and "umpire's call".
Nicholls was already in his groove by then, driving Kamrul for successive fours either side of cover, and Wagner joined in the fun with glances to the fine leg boundary when Taskin and Rubel Hossain strayed onto his legs. Then, with a century in sight, Nicholls came down the track to Mehedi, got too close to the pitch of the ball, and dragged an attempted cover drive back into his stumps off the bottom edge. Trent Boult then lofted Mehedi for a big six over long-on, before the innings ended in unusual circumstances, with Wagner run out when he was past the crease but airborne.
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