SYLHET: Kane Williamson scored a defiant century but failed to put New Zealand in control in the first Test against Bangladesh in Sylhet on Wednesday.
The callers reached 266- 8 at wholes on the second day, still trailing Bangladesh by 44 runs in the first innings.
Williamson smashed 104 off 205 balls in his 29th Test innings with 11 fours before Taijul Islam broke through his defense and dismissed the right-hander.
” So to be equal to do it the way he does and the countenance he shows in situations is stupendous,” Ronchi added. “He’s done it a lot, but a lot of our young guys see him do it.”
Taijul was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers with figures of 4-89, while Mehidi Hasan Miraz, Nayeem Hasan, Shoriful Islam and Mominul Haq claimed one wicket each.
“I think that the spinners played well. We could have created even more pressure. In the end we took eight wickets so it’s a good day for us,” said Bangladesh spin coach Rangana Herath.
Herath praised Taijul for getting his wealth of experience to the fore. “Taijul always helps the attack. He is our leading spinner. He created a lot of pressure,” Herath said. “He created a lot of angles. He has a lot of experience, knowledge and understanding. I’m so happy that he took four wickets today.”
Glenn Phillips scored 42 runs to set up Williamson in their 78-run sixth-wicket partnership – which pulled the visitors out of a hole after they lost the top half of their batting for 175 runs.
Mominul, an occasional left-arm spinner, forced Phillips to slip, ending their partnership.
Williamson got one off Nayem to complete his 189-ball hundred, leveling him with Don Bradman and Virat Kohli for the most Test centuries.
WAGGING THE TAIL
Ronchi remained confident of wagging New Zealand’s tail.
” We still have two lattices to go and hopefully we’ll be agone hereafter morning,” he said. “And those guys that are left can score a few more tries and get us closer to the Bangladesh score, for sure.” Taijul redeemed himself for missing Williamson at midwicket for 63 by taking the wicket of the former New Zealand captain and Ish Sodhi (0) in consecutive overs.
Earlier, Daryl Mitchell was fortunate to reach 41 before being bowled by Nurul Hasan off the bowling of Taijul. Mitchell, who shared a fourth-wicket stand of 66 with Williamson, edged out pacer Shoriful with a four.
But Bangladesh did not pursue the appeal, which was delayed and dismissed by the on-field umpire. New Zealand bowled out Bangladesh for 310 in the very first ball of the morning when Tim Southee trapped last man Shoriful for 13.
The Black Caps then got off to a flying start, the first three balls yielding 10 runs. The Bangladeshi spinners slowly took control to contain the initial surge of batting. Taijul dismissed Tom Latham for 21, Nayeem took the catch at fine leg. Second man Devon Conway, having made 12, conceded to off-spinner Mehidy two overs later.
Debutant Shahadat Hossain took a brilliant one-handed catch, diving to his right at a silly moment after the inside edge hit Conway’s pad and popped out to the fielder. Shoriful dismissed Henry Nicholls for 19 in the afternoon to leave New Zealand struggling at 98-3.
The two-match series marks the beginning of a new cycle in the Test World Cup for both teams.
Scoreboard
BANGLADESH (1st Innings):
Mahmudul Hasan c Mitchell b Sodhi 86
Zakir Hasan b Patel 12
Najmul Hossain c Williamson b Phillips 37
Mominul Haque c Blundell b Phillips 37
Mushfiqur Rahim c Williamson b Patel 12
By Shahadat Hossain c Nicholls b Phillips 24
Mehidy Hasan c Mitchell b Jamieson 20
Nurul Hasan c Blundell b Phillips 29
Nayeem Hasan c Latham b Jamieson 16
Taijul Islam does not come out 8
Shoriful Islam lbw b Southee 13
ADDITIONAL (B-12, LB-3, W-1) 16
TOTAL (all out, 85.1 overs) 310
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-39 (Zakir), 2-92 (Najmul), 3-180 (Mominul), 4-184 (Mahmudul), 5-210 (Mushfiqur), 6-233 (Mehidy), 7-261 ( Shahadat ), 8-276 (Nurul), 9-290 (Nyeem)
BOWLING Southee14.1-2-43-1( 1w), Jamieson 17-5-52-2, Patel 24-1-76-2, Sodhi 14-1-71-1, Phillips 16-1-53-4
NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings):
T. Latham c Nayeem b Taijul 21
D. Conway c Shahadat b Mehidy 12
K. Williamson b Taijul 104
H. Nicholls c Nurul b Shoriful 19
D. Mitchell st Nurul b Taijul 41
T. Blundell c Nurul b Nayeem 6
G. Phillips c Naimul b Mominul 42
K. Jamieson not out 7
I. Sodhi c Shahadat b Taijul 0
T. Southee not out 1
ADDITIONAL (B-8, LB-5) 13
TOTAL (in eight wickets, 84 overs) 266
EVEN BEFORE BAT: A. Patel
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-36 (Latham), 2-44 (Conway), 3-98 (Nicholls), 4-164 (Mitchell), 5-175 (Blundell), 6-253 (Phillips), 7-262 ( Williamson ), 8-264 (Sodhi)
BOWLING: Shoriful 11-2-44-1, Taijul 30-7-89-4, Mehidy 19-3-57-1, Nayeem 22-3-61-1, Mominul 2-1-2-1
