Broom, Williamson bat New Zealand to emphatic series sweep

It was a dead rubber by all means and Bangladesh never seemed good enough to turn the tide in their favour, after having failed poorly in their first two attempts of the three-match One-Day International series against New Zealand. However, in their bid to salvage some pride, Bangladesh started off perfectly by winning the toss and electing to bat first on Saturday (December 31) at the Saxton Oval in Nelson.

By the end of the first hour or so, Bangladesh had put up a hundred-plus opening stand and looked all set to post a challenging total for the hosts, but it went spiralling down from there before they set a modest total, which was chased down with utmost ease with eight wickets in the bag.

Chasing 237 runs to win, the hosts got off to a poor start, losing their in-form opening batsman Tom Latham in only the second over of the innings. Mustafizur Rahman, who was rested from the second ODI, struck immediately to remove the opener with a delivery that skidded on as the left-handed played across the line to miss it and was adjudged leg before wicket for four.

As if losing Latham early wasn’t enough, Martin Guptill pulled his hamstring in the following over before walking off the field retired hurt, three balls after he first felt the discomfort. Neil Broom, who was fresh from his match-winning hundred from the previous game, walked into the centre and enjoyed a big slice of luck immediately as Imrul Kayes dropped a regulation catch at first slip off Mustafizur.

Broom and his skipper, Kane Williamson, never let the tourists come back in the game as both went on a run-scoring spree, getting the singles and boundaries rather comfortably. Shakib Al Hasan was introduced into the attack in the tenth over and the skipper took him on to hit him for a couple of boundaries. The skipper was the more positive of the two, as he continued to challenge the left-arm spinner, hitting him for another six and a four an over later.

Williamson sent a couple of Taskin Ahmed deliveries to the boundary, as Broom went after Tanbir Hayder for back to back boundaries in the 17th over. The skipper raised his 27th ODI fifty in the 21st over and there was no looking back for New Zealand from there. Broom got to his fifty in the 25th over, yet again reminding everyone of the importance of how to convert rare opportunities into knocks like these.

Boundaries kept coming regularly for the hosts as Bangladesh struggled to make things happen. Broom went on a hitting spree, getting a six and a couple of fours, getting close to his hundred in the 33rd over. Mustafizur had other ideas though, as he picked up Broom’s wicket with his patented slower delivery which the right-handed played into the hands of the gully fielder, to fall on 97.

James Neesham came in to bat and immediately got going, collecting his share of fours and six. With only ten runs remaining and Williamson six away from a hundred, Neesham got a boundary early on to reduce the margin further. He blocked out a few deliveries before Williamson could only manage a single to move to 95. Neesham, rightfully hoicked one over the on side fielder to score the winning runs and take his side to a clean sweep in the ODI series.

Earlier today, Tamim Iqbal, the highest run-getter of the year for the tourists, almost got himself run out when he called for a non-existent single in the second over, but was lucky to survive. He redeemed himself quickly though, striking a couple of boundaries immediately in the next over. Imrul Kayes too, took his liking to Tim Southee, hitting him for two boundaries in the seventh over to set the ball rolling.

Over the next few overs, both the openers continued to score freely and made good use of their hitting skills by getting those odd boundaries in between. In one of the overs from James Neesham, Kayes hit him for a six and a four off back to back balls to lift the momentum. While Kayes was slightly ahead on the boundary count, Tamim hit a four himself to raise the hundred partnership for the first wicket in the 21st over.

The joy didn’t last long as immediately after raising the milestone, Kayes (44) went for a mindless slog against Mitchell Santner to get a leading towards backward point. That brought the other in-form Bangladesh batsman, Sabbir Rahman to the crease, who hit two fours on his arrival. Tamim raised his 34th ODI fifty in the 24th over, before his partner got two boundaries in an over again. On the next ball though, Matt Henry had the last laugh as his short ball got the better of the right-hander who looked to tuck it away fine, managing only a glove to the keeper.

Mahmudullah’s poor form in the series continued as he was dismissed by Southee with another short ball. Tamim (59), who was joined in by Shakib, was expected to pull Bangladesh out of the rut, but couldn’t do so. The opener threw his wicket away as he attempted an ugly hoick to lend a leading edge to the point fielder.

Williamson introduced himself into the attack, having picked up three wickets in the previous game. Patel, along with his skipper, bowled a few quick overs before Shakib ran himself out at a crucial stage in the game.

Tanbir Hayder was dismissed by a regulation off-break by Williamson, reducing the tourists to seven down. While Mashrafe Mortaza looked to stretch his team’s total, he holed out to the man at long off, adding only 14 runs, before Bangladesh were kept to 236 for 9 in their 50 overs.

Brief Scores: Bangladesh 236/9 in 50 overs (Tamim Iqbal 59, Nurul Hasan 44; Mitchell Santner 2-38, Matt Henry 2-53) lost to New Zealand 239/2 in 41.2 overs (Neil Broom 97, Kane Williamson 95; Mustafizur Rahman 2-32) by eight wickets.