Daily Times

NELSON: Henry Nicholls made 95 and Will Young 89, trumping Soumya Sarkar’s career-best 169 and leading New Zealand to a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh on Wednesday in the second one-day international.

New Zealand holds a winning 2-0 lead in the three-match series which ends Saturday in Napier.

Nicholls returned to form but fell just short of his second ODI century while Young narrowly missed his second straight ODI century as New Zealand made 296-3 in reply to Bangladesh’s 291. Young made 105 as New Zealand won the rain-affected first match of the series by 44 runs.

Young put on 76 for the first wicket with Rachin Ravindra who made 45 from 33 balls after making a first-ball duck in the first match on Sunday.

Young then added 128, effectively in a match-winning partnership, for the second wicket with Nicholls who also bounced back after a second-ball duck in the opening ODI.

New Zealand was 204-2 in the 33rd over when Young was out, having made his 89 runs from 94 balls with eight fours and two sixes. It was 260-3 when Nicholls fell in the 41st over, close to scoring another ODI hundred on Saxton Oval, the ground on which he scored his first in 2019.

Tom Latham and Tom Blundell saw New Zealand home with 22 balls to spare, Blundell finishing the chase with a six in the 47th over.

Earlier, Sarkar made his 169 from 151 balls as it batted first after losing the toss.

Sarkar´s score was the second-highest by a Bangladesh batsman in one-day internationals behind Litton Das´s 174 against Zimbabwe and the second highest by a visiting batsman in a one-day international in New Zealand.

“I’m happy but I’m concerned we’re not winning,” Sarkar said. “If we were winning it would be special. I wasn’t really thinking, just watching the ball and playing my shots.”

The left-hander had a reprieve on 92 when he offered a catching chance to Young at point which Young put down as the ball swirled in a steady breeze. Sarkar went on to reach his third one-day international century from 116 balls as the mainstay of the Bangladesh innings.

Bangladesh struggled to generate momentum early in its innings against tight bowling and also was impeded by losing its first four wickets for 80 runs in just over 20 overs.

The run rate crept up to 4.6 at the midpoint of the innings when Bangladesh was 115-4 and to exactly 5.0 after 30 overs when it was 150-4.

Then Sarkar took charge.

He reached his century at the start of the 40th over with the run rate lagging again at around 4.8 and he immediately began to search for the boundaries, sharing a half century partnership from 47 balls with Mehidy Hasan Miraz (19). He went from 100 to 150 in only 28 balls with seven fours and a six.

When Mehidy was out in the 44th over, giving New Zealand wrist spinner Adithya Ashok his first wicket in
one-day internationals, Bangladesh was 232-6 and the onus fell more heavily on Sarkar to lead the tourists to a competitive total.

He continued to hit out and threatened Das´s record until his innings finally ended tamely on the first ball of the 50th over when he was caught by Nicholls from the bowling of O´Rourke.

After his explosive performance, the Bangladesh innings came to an anti-climactic finish with three wickets in the final over.