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Kane Williamson steers New Zealand to six-wicket win

by Sandeep Shivam Tuesday 3 January 2017

Kane Williamson scored an unbeaten 74 for New Zealand

©REUTERS MEDIA EXPRESS

New Zealand 143-4 (Williamson 74no) beat
Bangladesh 141-8 (Mahmudullah 52) by six wickets
First Twenty20 International in Nelson
Scorecard

Kane Williamson and Colin de Grandhomme shared an unbeaten 81-run stand for the fifth wicket as New Zealand completed the chase of 142 runs with six wickets in hand in the first Twenty20 International in Nelson to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first. Matt Henry (1-44) struck early in the second over to dismiss Imrul Kayes (0) while debutant Ben Wheeler (2-22) had Tamim Iqbal (11) caught at deep square leg.

The sixth over bowled by Lockie Ferguson (3-32) saw him remove both Sabbir Rahman (16) and Soumya Sarkar (0) in successive deliveries. It was also his maiden T20I game. Bangladesh ended the powerplay at 34 for four.

After a couple of quiet overs, Mahmudullah (52) struck a six to get things going but Bangladesh lost Shakib Al Hasan (14) at the other end.

A brief 32-run stand between Mahmudullah and Mosaddek Hossain (20) helped them recover a bit before the latter was caught at cover off Mitchell Santner (1-20) in the 16th over.

Mahmudullah struck two sixes and as many boundaries in the next two overs and eventually manage to post 141 for eight in the 20 overs. New Zealand bowlers conceded 18 wides in the innings.

Even though Williamson (74 not out) and Neil Broom (6) got New Zealand off to a decent start of 17 for naught in the first two overs, the Black Caps lost two quick wickets and were reduced to 28 for two.

Broom was caught brilliantly at deep midwicket by Shakib (1-30) off the bowling of Rubel Hossain (1-43) while Colin Munro (0) edged a Mustafizur Rahman (1-21) delivery behind the stumps.

The innings sunk further when Corey Anderson (13) was caught at long off in the seventh over bowled by Shakib but Williamson went on to complete 1,000 runs in T20Is taking New Zealand to 61 for three at the halfway mark.

The 11th over of the innings saw debutant Tom Bruce (7) run out and New Zealand needed 71 runs in the final nine overs.

That's when de Grandhomme (41 not out) and Williamson joined forces and took the game away with some brutal stroke making especially in the final five overs to complete the chase in 18 overs. Williamson was awarded the man of the match as well.