Cricket: Gutsy knock rescues Tigers from utter humiliation

Ross Taylor smashed 78 off 51 balls. Photo / Getty Images

Scoreboard

Barely an hour into the University Oval's first ODI, it seemed the kitchen ovens could be turned off, the gates opened and calls put out to latecomers to leave the engine running.

Around that point Bangladesh were 25 for five. Record books were hastily being dug out. The lowest ODI total is 35 (by Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka six years ago, since you asked) and the odds were shortening by the minute on Bangladesh sliding below that mark in Dunedin.

That the contest stretched into early evening was largely down to the spirited Mushfiqur Rahim and without the wicketkeeper's bold and gutsy 86 which pushed the tourists to 183 for eight, this would have been a sorry day for the tourists.

It wasn't exactly flash in any case, but it could have been far worse. New Zealand won comfortably, and assertively enough by five wickets, reaching 185 for five with 22.3 overs to spare to win the three-game series with one to play, in Christchurch on Thursday.

At least the batsmen had some work to do, courtesy of Rahim, because for a time it looked a good opportunity to revive that quaint old custom of reversing the batting order.

Having been sent in, the top order batting was feeble, with left armer Andy McKay having another good day on his second time out in the side. He produced a handy opening burst of 7-3-4-2 to help rock Bangladesh early.

He dismissed Bangladesh's best batsman Tamim Iqbal with his fifth ball and got a beauty through captain Shakib al Hasan's defence to knock his middle stump over.

It turned into a battle for survival for Bangladesh, and the lunch break was looking increasingly irrelevant. It might be the first occasion a side reaching 50 has received a standing ovation, so all power to Rahim's arms.

He found an able ally in Naeem Islam - who survived a ball from Ian Butler which beat his stroke and wobbled a bail before settling in its groove - and gradually they found their bearings.

Rahim clouted three sixes as the last 10 overs produced 91 - 59 off the last five - which raised questions over New Zealand's late-innings bowling. Tuffey's final three overs cost 35; Butler's 36, so more food for thought.

"The size of the boundaries made it a little more difficult but I think we missed [the mark] a little too much and if we want to compete against Australia it's an area of our game that's got to be almost perfect," New Zealand captain Dan Vettori said.

Their stand of 101, a Bangladesh seventh-wicket record against any nation, was an appropriate reward for their spirited efforts.

Rahim departed on the first ball of the final over, but Shahadat Hossain clubbed 14 in three successive deliveries to end with a flourish.

There was a bit of hard staring from the New Zealanders too, when Shahadat, running off a wide was struck on the back of a leg by Brendon McCullum's throw to the far end. The ricochet enabled an overthrow.

There is no rule against that, although it is one of those conventions that batsmen don't prosper in that manner.

Vettori didn't appear to think they should, but increasingly, for better or worse, lines on what is legitimate and what is legal if sharp practice are becoming blurred.

He rejected any notion that New Zealand had let Bangladesh off the hook from 25 for five and then 46 for six. "People are allowed to play well and they had a couple of good batters there," he said.

Local hero McCullum would have fancied turning on the style for his people. Instead he chopped the eighth ball of the innings on to his stumps.

Martin Guptill made a flyer - one straight drive bouncing back from near the top of the sightscreen - before being bowled by a sharp inswinger from the lively Rubel Hossain.

Ross Taylor was seeing the ball like a pumpkin and once he got into his work the end came smartly, his 78 off 51 balls including five over the boundary rope.

"I'm pretty pleased, apart from our death bowling. We met our expectations," Vettori said.