Related Links : World Cup 2007 : Scorecard
The Black Caps had their revenge on Bangladesh, a side that had defeated them surprisingly in one of the Warm-up games. On a hot and sunny day at North Sound, Stephen Fleming got an 8th ODI hundred to lead the Kiwis to a 9-wicket win with as many as 20.4 overs to spare. This was after the Bangladeshi batsmen put up an extremely mild total of 174. New Zealand have now won their first two Super Eight Matches.
Fleming won the toss at the Sir Viv Richards Stadium in Antigua and he put the Tigers to bat first on a track that promised to be good for batting. It was an ideal opportunity for Bangladesh to post a 250 plus total and then hope that their bowlers produce some sort of a magic in the latter part of the match. Things started on a bright note with the new opening combination of Tamim Iqbal (29) and Javed Omar (22) putting on 55. Although it was a slow start, it was one that saw the new ball off. The Kiwis did have an early problem losing their new ball bowler, Michael Mason in the 3rd over due to a calf muscle strain. The introduction of Jacob Oram saw the two openers depart. Oram wouldn’t be all that excited with his first wicket that of Tamim, who was stumped out by McCullum. Aftab Ahmed and Saqibul Hasan, the next two batsmen had also got off to starts, they scored twenties, but couldn’t convert them into meaningful ones.
Bangladesh collapsed in the match by losing their next six wickets for the addition of only 18 runs. Disappointingly, their Captain Habibul Bashar and the proven Mohammad Ashraful flopped yet again. For Bashar, this seems to be a tournament where he is resting on the shoulders of his teenagers to perform in the middle. It was only because of an attacking 30 not out from the big hitting Mohammad Rafique that had got Bangladesh to a respectable 174 before they were bowled out in 48.3 overs. Shane Bond didn’t pick up wickets in a heap, but had suffocated the batsmen by conceding a miserly 15 runs in 10 overs which included four maidens and two wickets. Scott Styris enjoyed bowling in the sun and with the keeper standing up to come up with 4 for 43 in 10 overs while Jacob Oram was once again consistent with a three-wicket haul.
In reply, Peter Fulton became the first casualty, getting the toe end of his bat in an attempted lofted shot to be caught at mid on off Syed Rasel. The big Fulton ran out of patience, his ego affected with his 15 runs taking 30 balls. However, that was the only wicket that the Bangladeshi bowlers would get for the rest of the match with Stephen Fleming determined to get the three figures score. Hamish Marshall made good use of his opportunity to get a fifty, the best part was that he got there with a six with New Zealand having just another three runs to win. It was a race between Fleming and Marshall to get to their respective milestones with the amount of runs to get being very few. Both succeeded in style which made the victory even more sweeter. Fleming’s 102 not out took 92 balls with 10 fours and three sixes, all of them coming towards widish long on region. Marshall’s innings wasn’t all that flawless, his 50 had come in 54 balls, with most of his runs coming against the spinners.
Shane Bond was given the Man of the Match award ahead of Fleming. The Bangladeshi bowling attack didn’t look good enough to pick up the wickets. Mashrafe Mortaza, their best bowler couldn’t generate much speeds and was bowling in the mid 120kmph mark. The two frontline spinners – Abdur Razzak and Mohammad Rafique were pathetic as they kept on firing the ball at a flatter trajectory onto the pads and never ever got any turn off the wicket. This is something Bangladesh have to seriously look at if they have to compete at the highest level. It’s better if they include Shahadat Hossain, an energetic fast bowler instead of the slow medium pacer Syed Rasel, who lacks the required aggression with the new ball. Overall, it was a professional show put up by the Black Caps atleast with the bat as they made no fuss in chasing the target which they had got well inside 30 overs. The minus point they get was for allowing the last wicket pair of Bangladesh to add up 34 runs and last 37 balls!