New Zealand bowls out Bangladesh for 244 at World Cup

By FOSTER NIUMATA 06 June 2019, 12:00AM

LONDON (AP) — Bangladesh was all out for 244 after New Zealand won the toss and put the squeeze on at the Oval in their Cricket World Cup day-night match on Wednesday.

The top five batsmen all made starts but invariably got themselves out under pressure to escape New Zealand's grip.

Shakib Al Hasan, the third Bangladeshi to play 200 ODIs, top scored with 64. He was the only batsman to make more than 30.

The New Zealand battery, backed up by smart fielding, took advantage of a fresh pitch, overcast skies, and disciplined bowling to set a gettable target.

Matt Henry took 4-47 and Trent Boult a pair, while Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, and Mitchell Santner bagged one each. They all deserved them.

Santner, the slow left-armer, was unhittable through the middle overs, not conceding a boundary until his ninth over, and the only six of the match in his 10th. But his performance will also have heartened the Bangladesh spinners.

New Zealand has a 4-0 win record against Bangladesh at the World Cup, batting second each time.

Fast bowlers Henry and Boult were given the new ball and tied down openers Soumya Sarkar and Tamim Iqbal, who punished loose balls, though there weren't many.

Soumya edged Henry on to his stumps to end the partnership in the ninth over at 45-1, beginning a run of eight overs in which Bangladesh didn't hit a boundary.

During that period, Tamim was out, too, miscuing a Ferguson bouncer on 24.

Musfiqur Rahim joined Shakib Al Hasan and they struggled initially, three days after their record century stand against South Africa. Overs 10-20 gave up only 33 runs.

Shakib finally broke out when the fast Ferguson — his first stint going for 4-0-7-1 — was replaced by medium-pacer Jimmy Neesham. Neesham gave up three consecutive boundaries to Shakib in his second over and wasn't used again.

But just when Mushfiqur and Shakib were set and brought up their 50 partnership, Musfiqur ran himself out on 19. Shakib could take some of the blame for calling for the run then changing his mind when he saw Martin Guptill swoop on the ball.

Shakib was shaky between the wickets. He almost ran out Tamim in the 12th over, and himself in the 22nd.

He needed to make amends, and hit his third half-century in four matches, but he was out for 64, trying to cut medium-pacer de Grandhomme only to edge to Latham standing up at the stumps. The run rate dropped below 5 and stayed there.

Bangladesh went another five overs, Nos. 30-35 without hitting a boundary, and the pressure was telling.

In trying to hit away, Mohammad Mithun (26) was out to a mistimed pull to fine leg, Mahmudullah (20) hit straight to cover, Mosddaek Hossain (11) holed out in the deep, Mehedi Hasan (8) edged behind trying a pull, captain Mashrafe Mortaza (1) hit straight to third man, and Mohammad Saifuddin (29) was bowled, giving Henry two wickets in two balls.

There were four balls left over.

___

More AP cricket: www.apnews.com/cricket and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

By FOSTER NIUMATA 06 June 2019, 12:00AM

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