Neesham, Santner take control before rain interrupts

Neesham, Santner take control before rain interrupts 

New Zealand batters Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner steadied the ship and took control of their 111-run target before rain stopped play in the third and final T20I of the three-match series against Bangladesh at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.

Following early jitters that saw the hosts get reduced to 49 for the loss of five, Neesham and Santner put together a 46-run stand propelling the Black Caps to 95 for five after 14.4 overs when rain stopped proceedings.

Neesham came out as the aggressor as he took Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto for 14 runs in the 10th over to ease the pressure and tilt the permutations in favour of the hosts as his unbeaten 20-ball 28 put New Zealand ahead in DLS calculations, meaning that if play does not resume, New Zealand would be declared winners and would level the series 1-1.

Santner delivered able support with the bat with his unbeaten 20-ball 18.

Earlier, two wickets a piece from Mahedi Hasan and Shoriful Islam put Bangladesh in a strong position despite setting a meagre 110-run total.

 

Shoriful’s second puts Bangladesh on top 

Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam struck twice to reduce New Zealand to five down for 49 after nine overs in the third and final T20I of the three-match series at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.

Opener Finn Allen, who was the set batter on 38, was Shoriful’s second wicket after he castled dangerman Glenn Phillips for one.

Shoriful nipped it back slightly into Allen off a length and that did the trick as the ball snaked past the inside edge of Allen’s blade and crashed onto the stumps.

 

Bangladesh left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam bowled a stunner to castle New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips for one in the fifth over of the innings in the third and final T20I of the three-match series at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.

Phillips’s dismissal left the hosts three down for 35 runs after the first six overs.

Shoriful bowled one on a length and got it to deck back into Phillips and the right-handed batter leans forward and plays outside the line as he watched it go past his blade and crash onto the stumps.

Mahedi strikes twice inside Powerplay

Bangladesh off-spinner Mahedi Hasan dismissed New Zealand batters Tim Seifert and Daryl Mitchell to reduce the hosts to two down for 26 after four overs in the third and final T20I of the three-match series at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.

Mahedi got Seifert first when he bowled it full and fast outside off stump in the second over of the innings. Seifert wanted to reverse weep it but got beaten on the pace and missed it completely. Wicketkeeper Rony Talukdar made no mistake and whipped the bails off in time to send the batter back to the pavilion.

To get Mitchell out, Mahedi did the opposite in terms of pace. He gave it some air and brought down the pace. The ball held up a bit on the surface but Mitchell, who looked to take it over mid off, was already through on the shot and the right-handed batter could only chip it to the Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto at mid-off.

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