After registering a narrow win over Bangladesh in their second game of the ongoing 2019 ICC World Cup, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson called on his batters to bat with more responsibility and avoid soft dismissals.
On Wednesday, New Zealand came out with a brilliant bowling performance as they bowled out the Bangla Tigers for 244 at the Kennington Oval. All of Bangladesh's top eight made it into double figures, but only Shakib Al Hasan made it past 30, underpinning his side's effort with a classy 64, his second half-century in succession.
Chasing 245, the Black Caps were cruising at one stage having 160/2 at the board. However, that's when the drama unfolded. A middle-overs squeeze saw to the wickets of Williamson and Tom Latham, who fell in the same Mehidy Hasan over, preceding a nervy finish. Ross Taylor (82) tickled Mosaddek Hossain down the leg-side for Mushfiqur to take a sharp catch, but, though the Tigers struck regularly thereafter, they had left themselves too much to do, and the Kiwis eventually got home with 17 balls and two wickets in hand.
"It was very nice to get across the line. I thought the first innings was outstanding. The fielding was brilliant throughout by both teams," Williamson said after the match. "We thought 250 could be a competitive score and we just needed to keep wickets in the hand. It wasn't a clinical effort with the bat, but it was nice to get over the line. There were a few soft dismissals that we need to address," he added.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza felt that his team was short by 20-30 runs as a result of which they lost the opportunity of winning their second game of the ongoing tournament.
"It was a good wicket. We were 20-30 short with the bat and the outfield was slow. It was the same wicket that we played the last game," he said.
"We lost too many wickets in the middle overs and couldn't get any big partnership. We needed a set batsman in the middle overs, but in the end it got tight and if you want to win matches you need to get wickets," he added.
Feature image courtesy: AFP Photo/ Andrew Boyers
