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Lunch New Zealand 198 for 3 (Taylor 103*, Nicholls 9*, Jayed 2-52) trail Bangladesh 211 by 13 runs
Coming into this game, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor had played 162 Tests between them, and Abu Jayed, Ebadot Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman a combined 17. That experience gap proved crucial in a fascinating first session on day four, as New Zealand’s third-wicket pair put on their eighth century stand in Tests and hauled their team into a position of strength on a still tricky Basin Reserve surface.
By the time Williamson chipped a return catch to Taijul Islam 20 minutes before lunch, he had added 172 with Taylor at 5.54 per over. That scoring rate was a slightly misleading figure, though, since this wasn’t entirely the tale of a dominant batting pair laying waste to poor bowling. Bangladesh’s three quicks caused plenty of discomfort in seaming, bouncy conditions, and a lot of the runs they conceded came off edges through the slip cordon, and they even created a couple of clear-cut chances. But Taylor and Williamson rode their luck, found ways to survive and score runs, and eventually took firm control of the Test match. At lunch New Zealand, who had been 8 for 2 on the third evening, were only 13 runs behind Bangladesh’s first-innings total with seven wickets in hand.
Abu Jayed, who had dismissed both openers yesterday, came close to adding the wicket of Taylor twice in his second over of the morning. First Taylor drove away from his body at a wide outswinger, and sent the ball at catchable height to the left of short extra-cover, where the diving Mahmudullah failed to hold on. Then he poked at an away-seamer of perfect length and sent an edge low to the left of second slip. This was a more difficult chance, but Shadman Islam would reckon he should have taken it, considering he got both hands to the ball.
Taylor had shown his intent to play his shots right from the time he arrived at the crease, and he didn’t let these two chances change his game. There were a few more moments of uncertainty as the first hour wound down, as the ball continued to nip around and bounce towards the splice of the bat, but scoring opportunities began to arrive more frequently as the new-ball pair began to tire. Ebadot fed Taylor’s square cut on a couple of occasions, and then offered up an overpitched ball that he sent whistling past the umpire with the full face of his bat showing.
At the other end Williamson was putting on a masterclass of batting through pain. He had hurt his left shoulder yesterday while making a diving effort in the gully, and he required the physio’s attention a couple of times during his innings today. Often he pulled his left hand away from his bat handle after playing the ball, wincing at the impact, and top-hand dominant shots like his trademark off-drive were largely out of the question.
So he found other ways to score runs, sitting on the back foot even to fairly full balls, playing late and using the pace of the ball. Fifty of his 74 runs came behind the wicket, mostly in the arc from fine third man to deep backward point, and the shot that brought up his half-century – a pulled four off Mustafizur – was his first scoring shot in front of square on the leg side. This wasn’t the prettiest or most in-control innings of Williamson’s career – he was particularly troubled by Mustafizur’s left-arm-over angle – but it was an innings of great know-how in challenging circumstances.
More to follow…
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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