Cricket

Sarkar 169 in vain as Nicholls, Young power New Zealand to series win

New Zealand 296 for 3 (Nicholls 95, Young 89, Mahmud 2-57) beat Bangladesh 291 (Sarkar 169, O’Rourke 3-47, Duffy 3-51) by seven wickets

Soumya Sarkar cracked a career-best 169 out of Bangladesh’s total of 291 in the second ODI against New Zealand, but the visitors still fell well short in Nelson. Henry Nicholls hit 95 and Will Young continued his good form by smashing 89, and each of the hosts’ other top five batters helped them ease their way to the chase, which was completed with 22 balls and seven wickets in the bank.
As a result, New Zealand went 2-0 up in the three-match series, having won the first ODI in Dunedin by 44 runs on Sunday.

Opening the batting on Wednesday, Bangladesh slipped to 80 for 4 in the 17th over, with Jacob Duffy having struck twice for New Zealand. Regular wickets had forced Sarkar to slow down after a quick start, during which he had moved to 26 off his first 23 deliveries, including hitting six boundaries.

However, Sarkar joined Mushfiqur Rahim to resurrect the innings. While Mushfiqur took his time to get going, Sarkar kept ticking steadily, getting to his fifty from 58 balls with a boundary off Josh Clarkson to start the 21st over. Both batters hit the occasional boundary while keeping the scoreboard moving with singles and twos, before Duffy broke the game open. He had Mushfiqur caught behind for 45 in the 35th over, thus ending a stand of 91 in 18 overs.

But Sarkar then added 61 with Mehidy Hasan Miraz, in the process getting to his third ODI century off 116 balls at the beginning of the 40th over, though he was dropped by Young when on 92. But from 102 off 119 balls at one stage, Sarkar hit 67 from his next 32 deliveries in the death overs. That aggression featured nine fours and two sixes – 13 of his other fours had all come earlier – before Bangladesh lost three wickets to Will O’Rourke in the final over.

But Bangladesh still posted their highest score while batting first away from home against New Zealand, and started the defence of 291 by bowling two tight overs. Yet, New Zealand ended the powerplay at 61 without loss, as Young and Rachin Ravindra, fresh after pocketing his first IPL cheque, combined to hit nine boundaries. And though debutant legspinner Rishad Hossain ended that union at 76 by having Ravindra caught for 45 in the 11th over, more trouble awaited Bangladesh.

Nicholls arrived at No. 3, and combined with Young to add 128 at almost a run a ball. He managed only 3 from his first 13 deliveries, while Young got to his eighth ODI fifty off 51 balls in the 17th over. But the pair maintained a consistent pace throughout their stand, rarely seeming to be in a hurry to hunt the total down, as Nicholls’ first boundary came only off his 17th ball.

Young rode his luck twice – first on 76, when Towhid Hridoy couldn’t grab a difficult chance at extra cover, and then on 83, when he used DRS to reverse a caught-down-the-leg-side decision – before eventually perishing for 89 in the 33rd over. By then, Nicholls had got to a fifty of his own, which he could not convert into a century when he pulled Shoriful Isam to midwicket in the 41st over.