Centuries by Shakib and Mahmudullah send NZ home.
ICC Champions Trophy, 9th Match, Group A: New Zealand v Bangladesh at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, Jun 9, 2017
New Zealand v Bangladesh
New Zealand 265/8 (50 ov) MJ Guptill 33 off 35, 4 fours, 1 six, KS Williamson 57 off 69, 5 fours, LRPL Taylor 63 off 82, 6 fours, NT Broom 36 off 40, 3 fours, Mustafizur Rahman 52-1, Taskin Ahmed 43-2, Rubel Hossain 60-1, Mosaddek Hossien 13-3.
Bangladesh 268/5 ( 47.2 ov) Shakib Al Hasan 114 off 115, 11 fours, 1 six, Mahmudullah 102 not out off 107, 8 fours, 2 sixes, TG Southee 45-3, TA Boult 48-1, AF Milne 58-1
Bangladesh won by 5 wickets with 16 balls remaining.
Bangladesh is no stranger to miracles when they beat the mighty Australian in Cardiff in 2005, and twelve years later, they created another miracle to win against New Zealand at the same ground.
Previous biggest partnership for Bangladesh in ODIs between Musgfiqur-Tamim v Pakistan in Dhaka was 178 runs in 2015. This between Shakib and Mahmudullah is 224 which is now the highest. Bangladesh who was reduced to 33 for 4 chasing 266. An outside chance they can progress to the Champions Trophy semi-finals if England beat Australia at Edgbaston, in their return to the tournament after 11 years.
Bangladesh has lost all their top order by 12th over and looked on their way out of the tournament in a must-win match both teams. Time and again Shakib confirmed his status as the premier all-rounder in world cricket by hitting almost run-a-ball 114 with able help form Mahmudullah who hit 112 off 107. This happened after Tim Southee and Trent Boult combined brilliant dream start with the ball with Southee claiming the wickets of Tamim Iqbal, Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar in his first three overs.
Earlier New Zealand batting upto the 40th over was efficient as both Martin Guptill and Luke Ronchi got them off to quick start, before Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor took over, but off-spinner Mosaddek took three wickets in 42nd over as he removed Neil Broom, Corey Anderson and Neesham in the space of 18 deliveries. New Zealand’s lower-middle order collapsed as astute captaining by Mashrafe ensured that New Zealand did not get away to total that was out of reach.