NZ under GrahamB (story)

[cricfan1]

We won on the 5th day.

I don't like "spin specialist" batsmen and try to technique train them so that they have a slight spin preference.

Then definitely match will be interesting If you add days also then we can know more info

[DaveK93]

Great to see this story back again, looking forward to seeing how the Kiwis progress!

[GrahamB]

BANGLADESH v NZ (2nd Test 2013)

There were no changes to either side for the second and final test.

After both openers were gone at 41/2, Hunt (59), Brownlie (41) and Williamson (35) all fought hard to get us on top.
However, at 185/5, it looked as though we'd squandered our opportunity to pile on a big score.
But de Boorder (60) and Franklin (44) put together 74 for the sixth wicket, and then later on Woodcock (46no) and Henry (62) shared a stand of 105 for the ninth wicket!
425 all out was a good score to finish with considering that Henry's 62 was the highest individual score.
Sunny (4/105) and Altaf (3/81) were the most successful of the Bangladeshi bowlers.

Henry and Franklin both struck early, picking up two wickets apiece as the home side collapsed to 103/5, with Iqbal (39) the only batsman to get established.
Islam (55) and Ghosh (41) did their best to recover the situation, but Henry struck back with a further four wickets to have Bangladesh in huge trouble at 230/9.
But our bowlers were then frustrated by a fighting last wicket partnership of 74 between Sunny (76) and Mahmud (25no).
Bangladesh were finally all out for 34, as Henry finished with the superb figures of 6/81.

Batting again with a first innings lead of 121, we were soon reeling at 61/3 on a turning wicket.
Hunt (88no) and Williamson (80no) rescued the dicey situation with a tremendous unbeaten partnership of 161, but scoring was difficult and painstakingly slow.
We declared at 222/3, leaving the Bangladeshis an unlikely 344 to chase for a series levelling victory.
Al-Hasan (3/63) upstaged spin partner Sunny this time.

Nethula picked up 2/38 as the home side struggled through to finish the match at 157/4.
Iqbal (40) and Mahmadullah (38no) were the best of the Bangladesh batsmen.

And so we take the test series 1-0.

[GrahamB]

BANGLADESH v NZ (1st ODI 2013)

The first of the three one-dayers was close to being a complete embarrassment for us, as we slumped to 119/8 batting first.
Watling (37) and Hunt (32) were the only top order batsmen to get decent starts.
Fortunately, Collin (52no) and Henry (24no) spared our blushes with a superb unbeaten ninth wicket stand to get us through to 197/8.
Gazi (4/36) and Sunny (2/34) were well supported by a tight spell from Mahmud (0/31) as they strangled our scoring.

In contrast, the Bangladeshi batsmen were able to score more freely from from our bowlers, as they eased to 203/6 in the 42nd over to go 1-0 up in the series.
Nafees (41), Hom (35) and Al-Hasan (47) were the ones to set up the win.

[GrahamB]

BANGLADESH v NZ (2nd ODI 2013)

A good bowling effort in the second one-dayer saw us dismiss Bangladesh for 238.
Apart from Iqbal (63) and Hom (61), there was little else for the home fans to get enthused about.
Nethula (4/43) and Franklin (2/43) were the best of our bowlers.

We felt confident that we could chase down the necessary runs and square the series up.
However, the Bangladeshi bowlers have an uncanny knack of being able to strangle the opposition scoring rate, and despite our best efforts, we were unable to get into a position from which we could win.
Watling scored a fighting 105, but was never able to get on top of the bowling, while Hunt (41no) had no joy either.
All of the home bowlers were tight, with Gazi again the most successful with 3/44.



Bangladesh 2-0 up with one to play.

[GrahamB]

BANGLADESH v NZ (3rd ODI 2013)

We finally managed to get on top of the Bangladeshi bowlers in the final ODI.
Led again by Watling (85), and with good contributions from both Taylor (46) and Hunt (44), we posted a competitive 244/8.
Sunny took four wickets, but went for plenty, while Al-Hasan (1/32) and Mahmud (1/35) again proved tough to score off.

At 106/1, the home side had made a great start, but Henry (3/38) and Franklin (3/49) fought back to clean out the top and middle order.
Once Iqbal (90) spooned a catch back to Franklin, there was little resistance as we dismissed Bangladesh for 198 in just the 43rd over.

An emphatic victory, but the series had already been lost.

[GrahamB]

BANGLADESH v NZ (1st T20 2013)

We'd brought over some different players for the T20 series, determined to finish the tour on a high.

Sinclair (71no) played with controlled aggression, supported by Taylor (35), to get us through to 141/3 after our twenty overs.

Then Franklin (2/23), Hunt (2/25), Lonsdale (2/28), Nethula (1/29) and Kain (1/19) all bowled tightly to restrict the home side to 128/8.
Islam (45no) threatened to hold things together and see his side home, but he ran out of support.

NZ 1-0 up in the T20 series.

[GrahamB]

BANGLADESH v NZ (2nd T20 2013)

The final T20 was also a tight affair.

We struggled through to 124/7, as all of the Bangladeshi bowlers put the squeeze on.
Taylor (45) and de Boorder (38) were the best of our batsmen, while Sunny (3/20) showed all of his skill and guile in a brilliant spell of bowling.

With the two Bangladeshi opening batsmen determined to win the game themselves, we did well to take the match down to the final over.
Iqbal (60) and Nafees (51no) gave us no real chance howver, despite the best efforts of Munro (1/23) and Kain (0/22) in particular.

And so the T20 series ended up at 1-1.

[GrahamB]

So what was always going to be a difficult tour to Bangladesh came to an end.

We took out the test series 1-0, lost the ODI series 1-2 and shared the T20 series 1-1.

[GrahamB]

Next up was a visit to NZ by the West Indies to start off our 2013/14 season.

There would be three tests, five one-dayers and two T20 matches.

[GrahamB]

The two playing elevens for the 1st Test:

NZ
B.Watling
H.Rutherford
D.Hunt
D.Brownlie
K.Williamson
D.de Boorder (wk)
R.Taylor (captain)
D.Bracewell
M.Henry
T.Boult
T.Nethula


West Indies
C.Gayle
S.Barrington
K.Edwards
D.Bravo
P.McClean
S.Chanderpaul
D.Ramdin (wk)
A.Russell
D.Sammy
R.Rampaul
K.McClean

[GrahamB]

I did the same clever thing as one of our other story tellers.
I came up with the "Welcome to the new season" screen, meaning that I no longer have access to the previous season's scorecards. I now just have the screenshots to go by.
Therefore, I'll not be able to give the usual details when I post the rest of our matches for the season in progress in here. Apologies.

[GrahamB]

NZ v WINDIES (1st Test 2013)

A great start to the home series with an emphatic victory in the opening test.

[GrahamB]

NZ v WINDIES (2nd Test 2013)

The second test could have gone either way with more time, but a draw was probably a fair result.
Watling continued his sterling form with another century.

[GrahamB]

NZ v Windies (3rd Test 2013)

We had to dig deep in the final test.
After the visitors piled on a massive 601/9 declared, their pacemen came out with fire in their nostrils to roll us for just 188!
Forced to follow on, our top order batsmen showed much more resilience in the second innings as we held on for a remarkable draw.



And so we win the test series 1-0.