New Zealand 266 for 8 (Williamson 104, Phillips 42, Taijul 4-89) trail Bangladesh 310 (Joy 86, Philips 4-53, Jamieson 2-52) by 44 runs
Williamson kept New Zealand’s innings going with a patient 104 off 205 balls with 11 fours. He continued to keep one end in the middle order, but occasional wickets at the other end restricted his partnerships to just 54, 66 and 78 runs for the third, fourth and sixth wickets respectively. Bangladesh even scored twice late in the day, when Taijul removed Williamson and Ish Sodhi with the second new ball. He had also given Bangladesh their first breakthrough early in the first session.
But earlier, they had lost their remaining wicket on the first ball of the day when Tim Southee had Shoriful Islam lbw. In response, New Zealand got off to a cautious start before their openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway succumbed to the bowling. Latham, usually a strong scorer against Bangladesh, overcame a sweep off Taijul, which was easily caught by Nayeem Hasan. Conway was then caught at a silly point by Mehidy Hasan Miraz, where debutant Shahadat Hossain made a smart catch by diving to the right of him.
However, in Shoriful’s next over, Bangladesh missed a dismissal when Daryl Mitchell edged the ball, but there was no convincing appeal from Bangladesh. The Snickometer later confirmed the nickname. It cost Bangladesh considerably given the state of the match as Mitchell and Williamson added 66 for the fourth wicket. But Taijul, returning for his second spell, got Mitchell, who scored 41 with three fours and a six, stumped off the first ball to give Bangladesh a much-needed breakthrough at that stage.
Williamson then had a couple of lives either side of the tea break. First, Taijul missed a simple chance at mid-wicket when Williamson pulled Nayeem when he was on 63. When he was on 70, Williamson missed a shot from Nayeem, but Shoriful missed another simple chance at deep backward square leg. Nayeem was taken aback, but Tom Blundell’s wicket between the two catches probably eased the pain.
Williamson reached his century five overs before the second new ball arrived; but as soon as they took him away, Taijul eliminated him with his best ball of the day. Williamson advanced, but the new ball slipped between his bat and his pad. Sodhi was Taijul’s fourth wicket of the day, captured neatly at short leg by Shahadat.
