Bangladesh want to end year with win
New Zealand look to take sweet revenge
Bangladeshs up and down ride through 2016 was best captured in the second ODI against New Zealand.
It has been a year of mixed fortunes for Bangladesh. The team defied odds to qualify for the Asia Cup T20 final against India at home, but then let slip an opportunity for a significant win against the same opponent in the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangalore. The ghosts of that one-run defeat left scars, but the players picked themselves up superbly after a Test win against England at home that left the two-match series level, according to an ICC press release.
Bangladeshs up and down ride through 2016 was best captured in the second One-Day International against New Zealand in Nelson. Chasing 252, Bangladesh was comfortably placed at 105 for 1 at one stage but lost its last nine wickets for 79 runs to go down by 67 runs.
Though the last ODI at Saxton Oval in Nelson on Saturday (December 31) is a dead rubber, Bangladesh will not be taking it easy. The team will be without the services of the injured Mushfiqur Rahim, but will want to end the year with a win, which will help players build on the gains of 2016 as they seek to put out more consistent performances.
Mashrafe Mortaza, the captain, who returned figures of 3 for 49 his first three-wicket haul against a Test nation in an away game in more than two years was left clearly disappointed after the second ODI.
Teams from the subcontinent who tour New Zealand look for the sort of opportunities that we got today, Mortaza said after the loss on Thursday. In the first game we were in the game even though we had given away 40 runs too many. Today the batting collapse was unexpected because we were showing how flat the wicket was. We have let go of a big chance, and had we taken it, we could have played the next match comfortably.
New Zealand, on the other hand, would want to end the year on a high by recording its first clean sweep in a three-match series since February 2012, when it blanked Zimbabwe at home. Since then New Zealand has won 12 series, including the ongoing one, but has never tasted the sweet success of a whitewash in a contest featuring three or more games. In fact, Bangladesh had swept the team 3-0 in November 2013 in Bangladesh, so there is a matter of settling a score there too.
New Zealand started 2016 with the retirement of Brendon McCullum. Kane Williamsons first full-time assignment as captain was the ICC World T20 2016, and the manner in which the team dominated the league stages was impressive, before it fell to England at the semifinal stage. The tours of South Africa, India and Australia also did not pan out as envisaged, but things started to fall back in place in the home summer. The Test series win against Pakistan and the ODI series triumph over Bangladesh have been scripted on the back of several individual performances.
The first two matches against Bangladesh saw players like Neil Broom and Lockie Ferguson get opportunities to prove their worth. New Zealand would be hoping that more of their young guns make the last game of the year count.
