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WICKET! Hasan Miraz c Henry b Ferguson 30 (New Zealand 56-3)Ferguson starts the over at a cool, breezy 91mph. 90.8 the next ball, 91.7 with his third, which is called a wide. And then, after a dot, a wicket! Sharp, short and Mehidy can only help it towards fine leg. Ferguson’s bowling serious heat, and New Zealand are in control.
11th over: Bangladesh 55-2 (Hasan Miraz 30, Shanto 7) Shanto clips Santner down the leg side to collect his first boundary of the day.
10th over: Bangladesh 46-2 (Hasan Miraz 28, Shanto 0) A half-shout from New Zealand as Ferguson fires a bumper past Mehidy and into the gloves of Latham. The right-hander then drives behind point for four the next ball – he’s looking in very decent touch, particularly through the off side.
“Good Morning Taha,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “Any updates on the crowd? So far, this WC has been witnessing near empty of half empty stadiums.” I’m watching off the telly so all I can confirm is that it definitely ain’t full.
9th over: Bangladesh 41-2 (Hasan Miraz 23, Shanto 0) Santner’s left-arm tweakers enter the game – and he concedes just one.
WICKET! Tanzid c Conway b Ferguson 16 (Bangladesh 40-2)The first change of the day: Lockie Ferguson arrives to crank it up, replacing Henry. Hasan Miraz guides to third man for a single – and it’s a no-ball too. Tanzid can’t get any bat on the bouncer as New Zealand escape without any damage from the free hit. More dots follow and Ferguson strikes with the final ball of the over! He goes around the wicket and Tanzid clips to the catching man at square leg. A bit too easy that for New Zealand.
8th over: Bangladesh 40-2 (Hasan Miraz 22, Shanto 0)
7th over: Bangladesh 38-1 (Hasan Miraz 21, Tanzid 16) Boult calms things down – just one off it.
6th over: Bangladesh 37-1 (Hasan Miraz 20, Tanzid 16) Henry follows up two dots with a sharp bumper – but Mehidy responds well off the next delivery, punching through point for three. The ball’s coming nicely onto the bat, which makes it all the more stranger that Litton skipped down the pitch first ball to make good contact. Tanzid then plays the shot of the day, driving along the carpet through mid-off for four.
5th over: Bangladesh 30-1 (Tanzid 12, Hasan Miraz 17) Tanzid gloves a pull shot over the keeper’s head for four. The left-hander then finally finds the middle by skipping down the pitch to hit Boult past mid-off for four more.
4th over: Bangladesh 22-1 (Tanzid 4, Hasan Miraz 17) Mehidy drives a Henry half-volley through the covers for four – beaut. He tries to leave the next ball but gets a tickle off the bat – gets away with it, though. The final ball of the over is squeezed past point for a couple.
3rd over: Bangladesh 16-1 (Hasan Miraz 11, Tanzid 4) Mehidy pushes at the ball and gets an edge that evades slip and runs away for four. Boult not at his electric best just yet, firing in a full toss at Mehidy. The Bangladesh all-rounder is in my fantasy team, as is Boult, so this duel is throwing up a lot of complicated emotions for me.
2nd over: Bangladesh 10-1 (Hasan Miraz 6, Tanzid 4) Cracking shot from Mehidy, who punches Henry through the off side for four.
1st over: Bangladesh 5-1 (Hasan Miraz 1, Tanzid 4) Boult gets some nice shape into the right-hander as Mehidy Hasan Miraz emerges at No. 3. He gets a single with his second ball, bringing Tanzid on strike. Ooooh, I think he gets a tickle down the leg side but Latham can’t hold on – that would’ve been a stunner.
Watching a replay of that wicket – it was a really good catch from Henry, who leapt high to hold on.
WICKET! Das c Henry b Boult 0 (Bangladesh 0-1)Hot and humid out there, says Atherton, as Litton Das takes guard and Trent Boult gets ready to bowl. Here we go – and it’s OUT FIRST BALL! Das clips straight to Matt Henry at fine leg!
Das went to attack and got a meaty connection on it, but the ball flew straight to Henry. New Zealand are loving life at the moment.
The anthems are done. Let’s get this show going.
Great to see the return of Williamson. Seemed like he wasn’t going to make this tournament when he did his ACL in March while playing in the IPL. He sat out of the first two games but did bat in the warm-ups, hitting a half-century against Pakistan.
Notable that New Zealand haven’t included their leggie, Ish Sodhi, while Bangladesh have opted for batting depth with part-time tweaker Mahmudullah replacing the specialist, Mahedi Hasan. Perhaps both teams think spin won’t have as much an impact as expected.
Bangladesh’s XI: Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman
New Zealand’s XI:
Team changes: Williamson replaces Will Young, while Mahmudullah comes in for Mahedi – didn’t expect that one.
New Zealand win the toss and will field firstKane Williamson – yeah, that’s right, he’s back! – is out there for the toss with Shakib Al Hasan and Athers. Williamson tosses and wins it – New Zealand will bowl first.
PreambleHello, hello, hello! Welcome to coverage of this World Cup clash between New Zealand and Bangladesh at Chennai.
The Black Caps, those guys you always forget are really, very good, have been busy being very good. England were absolutely demolished in the tournament opener and Mitchell Santner collected five as the Netherlands were swept aside in their second game. They’re looking the business and would love to go three for three here.
Bangladesh, the guys who are always threatening to have a breakout tournament, kicked off with a six-wicket win over Afghanistan but couldn’t deal with Dawid Malan and Reece Topley at Dharamasala. They’ll look to their tweakers – Shakib, Mehidy and Mahedi – for inspo.
I’ll be here to keep all of you company for the first half of the innings, with play to begin at 9:30am BST.