Home ›› 02 Jan 2022 ›› Sport
Honours even after the end of the first day’s play at Mount Maunganui as New Zealand were 258-5 against Bangladesh after Mominul Haque won the toss and decided to bowl first in the first Test of the two-match series on Saturday.
Bangladesh had a great start as Shoriful Islam gave the Tigers an early breakthrough by dismissing the Blackcaps captain Tom Latham for only one run but Devon Conway and Will Young recovered the home side with a 138-run partnership in the second wicket.
Conway, after making his debut with a double century against England at Lord’s, scored a hundred in his first home Test.
The left-handed batsman, born in South Africa but moved to New Zealand in 2016 and finally obtained the eligibility to play for the Blackcaps in August 2020.
Conway is playing only his fourth Test match, and so far, his lowest Test innings is 54 runs against India in the ICC World Test Championship final, which New Zealand won eventually.
New Zealand opted for a conservative approach after losing Latham early, but as the game progressed, their batsmen started to free their arms.
The hosts lost another wicket before the Tea break, Will Young became run out for 52 runs, and after the break, Ross Taylor also did not last long in his penultimate Test.
He was out for 31, becoming the second prey of Shoriful, well assisted by Shadman Islam, who took a smart low catch at the cover area.
Conway was looking very determined to carry on, but he got out while trying to glance at a harmless-looking delivery from the part-timer Mominul Haque, giving a catch to Liton Das after scoring 122 runs from 227 balls.
Ebadot Hossain had been costly throughout the day as he leaked 53 runs in 15.3 overs, whilst Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful were impressive with their fiery spells early on the day.
But as a consolation, Ebadot removed Tom Blundell at the end of the day, and the umpires decided to call it stumps as only three deliveries of the day were remaining.
New Zealand ended day one on 258-5 in 87.3 overs, Henry Nicholls was unbeaten on 32, and Rachin Ravindra is yet to join him in the middle as the day’s play ended a bit early.
Conway, playing international cricket for New Zealand since November 2020, finally got a chance to play a Test at home, and he made the occasion memorable with a century.
“It is a very special feeling. I think today (Saturday) playing in New Zealand in a Test it was very special to be out there,” he said after the match.
“And then personally, it was a great feeling to have Ross Taylor there out in the middle with me when I achieved that milestone. He was very positive. Told me to soak it in, and congratulated me. It will last in my memory for a very long time,” added Conway.
Early in the morning, Shoriful and Taskin were very aggressive with the new ball on a fresh deck, and after the first half an hour, they conceded only two runs with picking a wicket.
Conway said they adopted a defensive strategy to wear out the steam.
“I think the two of us decided that we needed to be as patient as possible. We identified that the Bangladeshi bowlers were bowling really well in that period. The surface was assisting them as well. We knew we could play the more attacking shots later in the day,” he said.
Shoriful, the most successful bowler of Bangladesh on day one with his double strike, told the reporters that the wicket changed after lunch.
“I enjoyed bowling in the first session, extracted good movement and swing. But after the lunch break, the wicket behaved differently. It got flattened,and the balls were going straighter”, said the left-arm pacer.
