Cricket: Fleming's eyes now on test win No 50

By RICHARD BOOCK

New Zealand have a historic 50th test victory in their sights after brushing aside Bangladesh with near-ridiculous ease at Hamilton.

Hopes of the test making it past lunch on the fifth day proved a shade optimistic at the weekend when the tourists lost their last six wickets in just 13 overs, going down by an innings and 52 runs.

While the result was the fourth innings loss suffered by Bangladesh and their seventh in eight tests, it provided New Zealand with the opportunity to press for a much more desired milestone this summer.

Win No 48 for New Zealand was set up by the batting talents of Mark Richardson and finished off by Chris Cairns' second-best bowling performance in tests, and it would be a brave man who would bet against No 49 being registered this week.

All going to plan, that would leave Stephen Fleming's side on the verge of the much-anticipated 50th win when the three-test series against England starts in February.

Fleming, who has been backing up his strong recent performance as skipper with a keen interest in the history of the game, had the 50th win in mind when he returned from Australia.

"It would be nice to win both tests against Bangladesh and have that 50th to play for against England," he said.

"That's something we'd dearly like to achieve."

For some time it looked as though his plan would be washed away by the Hamilton rain, as was the first half of the test at WestpacTrust Park, but as it happened, he only needed 181.4 overs - or just over two days' play.

Resuming on Saturday morning at 90 for four, Bangladesh were packing their kits within the hour after Cairns continued on from his encouraging spell the previous evening, picking up five more wickets in the space of 38 balls to end with seven for 53.

The carnage began with the seventh ball of the day, when Bangladesh's main hope, Mohammad Al Sahariar, edged the first ball he received to wicketkeeper Adam Parore, ending his innings on his overnight score of 53.

From there on it was a hair-raising downhill plummet for the Bangladeshis, as captain Khaled Masud and first-innings surprise Khaled Mahmud fell to consecutive balls in Cairns' third over, caught at first and second slip respectively.

Teetering at 98 for seven after 30 minutes of play, the tourists were quickly put out of their misery by Cairns and Shane Bond, the last six wickets falling for 18 runs.

In terms of his career, it was Cairns' twelfth five-wicket bag in 53 tests, and ranked only behind the seven for 27 he took against the West Indies at the same ground two summers ago.

Cairns was lost to the game for a year due to a nagging knee injury, so the effort was an encouraging sign for him after struggling at times in Australia and still looking rusty in the first innings at Hamilton.

"I worked hard with the coach and with the people at the high-performance centre and it's good to see that things are coming together," he said afterwards. "Getting a good workout in the second innings was useful and the rhythm seems to be returning.

"There's been a lot said about my bowling but it's important to remember that it takes time to get your rhythm back. You've got to put in the time at practice and in the middle."

It was also a memorable day for coach Denis Aberhart, who posted his first test win since taking over from David Trist in September.

Aberhart, whose debut tour to Pakistan was cancelled because of the Afghanistan situation, remains undefeated after the drawn series against Australia.

For Bangladesh, not only did they slump to their second-lowest innings score since gaining test status, but they were also fined 5 per cent of their match fee for a slow over rate.