Ebadot Hossain stars as Bangladesh beats New Zealand by 8 wickets
Mount Maunganui (New Zealand) (AP): Fast bowler Ebadot Hossain took a career-best 6-46 as Bangladesh beat World Test Champion New Zealand by eight wickets in the first cricket test Wednesday, capturing its first-ever win in New Zealand.
Ebadot had bowled Bangladesh to the brink of a famous victory by the end of the fourth day when he had figures of 4-39. He broke down the last of New Zealand's resistance with two quick wickets as the home team was dismissed in its second innings for 169, its lowest score against Bangladesh.
New Zealand trailed by 130 runs on the first innings, leaving Bangladesh to score only 40 for victory. It lost two wickets in doing so but current captain Mominul Haque, top-scorer in the first innings, and former captain Mushfiqur Rahim were at the crease when Bangladesh reached 42-2.
It was only Bangladesh's sixth test win away from home and its first test win over a team ranked in the top 5 ranked team: New Zealand is ranked No. 2 and Bangladesh No. 9. The result also brought to an end New Zealand's unbeaten streak in its last 17 tests at home.
Ebadot, a former volleyball player who became a test cricketer after winning a fast bowling competition, had only 11 test wickets at an average of 81 when he came into this match as Bangladesh's third seamer.
He took 1-75 in New Zealand's first innings of 328 but came into his own in the second innings, running through the middle order on Tuesday with the wickets of Devon Conway (13), Henry Nicholls (0), Tom Blundell (0) and Will Young (69). That left New Zealand 147-5 at the start of play Wednesday, only 17 ahead of Bangladesh.
The possibility of any stern resistance by New Zealand, marshaled around veteran batsman Ross Taylor who was 37 not out when play began, quickly dissolved, thanks to Ebadot.
The tall right-armer, who snaps to attention and salutes when he takes a wicket, saluted twice when he bowled Taylor for 40. Then he dismissed Kyle Jamieson to leave New Zealand 160-7. Shoriful pulled off a brilliant diving catch at mid-wicket to complete the second dismissal.
Taskin Ahmed then stepped in to help wrap up the New Zealand innings. He removed the other overnight batsman, allrounder Rachin Ravindra, for 16. Ravindra had edged a delivery from Ebadot between first slip and the wicketkeeper but this time the edge carried finer to keeper Liton Das.
Taskin bowled Tim Southee (0) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz finished it off with the wicket of Trent Boult, who was brilliantly caught at deep mid-wicket by the substitute Taijul Islam.
It's a long story, volleyball player to test cricketer, Ebadot said. But I'm a soldier of the Bangladesh Air Force and I know how to salute.
On New Zealand soil over the last 11 years our brothers and our teams didn't get any wins. But when we came to New Zealand we set a goal. We raised our hands and said Yes, we have to do it and we can do it on New Zealand soil.'
New Zealand are test champions so if we raise our hands and beat New Zealand on New Zealand soil our next generation will be able to beat them too.
Ebadot credits Bangladesh's West Indies-born bowling coach Ottis Gibson for his transformation as a fast bowler, for urging him to pitch the ball up on off stump. That was the key to Bangladesh's bowling success on the a docile pitch at Bay Oval, where New Zealand's shorter lengths were unsuccessful.
We were short in all three facets, New Zealand captain Tom Latham said.
Bangladesh showed us how to go about things on that wicket. They were able to build partnerships, to bowl well from both ends and build pressure and unfortunately we weren't able to do it for long enough.
The second test begins at Christchurch on Sunday. (AP)
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2nd WT20I: Shafali, spin trio do star turns in India''s seven-wicket win
Visakhapatnam (PTI): Shafali Verma hit a blistering unbeaten 69 as India made short work of a paltry target to outclass Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the second Women’s T20 International here on Tuesday.
India now lead the five-match series 2-0 after another one-sided victory, having restricted Sri Lanka to a modest 128 for 9 through a collective display of disciplined bowling from the spin trio of seasoned Sneh Rana, ably complemented by young spinners Vaishnavi Sharma and Shree Charani.
During the chase, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana (14) fell cheaply but Shafali, enjoying new found confidence after a stellar show in the World Cup final, sent the bowlers on a leather-hunt during her 34-ball knock, winning it for her team in just 11.5 overs.
The hosts have now completed back-to-back successful chases within 15 overs which speaks volumes about the unit's sky-high confidence.
Shafali's innings had 11 punchy boundaries apart from a maximum.
The floodgates opened when left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera bowled a few flighted deliveries and Shafali would step out everytime to hit her over extra cover. Her footwork against slow bowlers was immaculate whether stepping out to loft the ball or rocking back to punch or pull.
Seeing her confidence, the newly appointed Delhi Capitals skipper Jemimah Rodrigues (26 off 15 balls) also attacked as the duo added 58 runs in just 4.3 overs.
By the time Rodrigues was out trying to hit one six too many, the match as a contest was over. Shafali completed her half-century off just 27 balls and completed the formalities in a jiffy.
Earlier, off-spinner Rana, who got a look-in after Deepti Sharma was ruled out due to fever, showed her utility keeping the Lankan batters under tight leash with figures of 1 for 11 in 4 overs, including a maiden which certainly is a rarity in T20 cricket.
Charani, who made an impression during India's ODI World Cup triumph, took 2 for 23 in her quota of overs, while Vaishnavi after an impressive debut in the opening encounter, finished with 2 for 32, not letting the Islanders get easy runs in her second spell.
The last six wickets fell for just 24 runs, but what stood out during India’s bowling effort was their superb ground fielding. After a patchy show in the previous game, the improved sharpness in the field resulted in three run-outs.
Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu (31 off 24 balls) looked in good nick as she deposited length deliveries from seamers Kranti Gaud and Arundhati Reddy over the ropes but it was Rana, who kept her quiet by repeatedly pitching on good length.
Unable to manoeuvre the strike and with the big hits suddenly drying up, Athapaththu chanced her arm at another delivery in which Rana had shortened the length slightly.
Not having transferred the weight into the lofted shot, Athapaththu's hoick was pouched cleanly by Amanjot Kaur at long-off.
This was after Athapaththu's opening partner Vishmi Gunaratne (1) had offered a simple return catch to Gaud.
Hasini Perera (22 off 28 balls) and Harshitha Samarawickrama (33 off 32 balls) did stitch a stand of 44 but they could never set the tempo against the Indian spin troika.
Once Hasini offered a tame return catch off a Charani full-toss, Sri Lankans never recovered and lost wickets in a heap towards the end.
