New Zealand beat Bangladesh by two wickets after a thrilling end to their Cricket World Cup day-night match at the Oval on Wednesday. Set 245 to win, New Zealand was cruising at 218-5 in the 43rd over, but the loss in consecutive overs of allrounders Colin de Grandhomme and Jimmy Neesham left tailenders Mitchell Santner and Matt Henry at the crease, both on 0.
Kane Williamson, New Zealand skipper, said, “Very nice to get across the line, I thought the first innings was outstanding. The fielding was brilliant throughout by both teams. We thought 250 could be a competitive score and we just needed to keep wickets in the hand. It wasn’t a clinical effort with the bat, but it was nice to get over the line. There were a few soft dismissals that we need to address. It was a great experience to have and these things happen and they go down the wire. It was nice to hold on as momentum shifts tend to happen in tournament cricket. I thought all the guys adopted to their role very well. We were expecting a lot more pace but it was on the slower side. Both teams had a similar kind of a approach today. It was one of those surfaces that produces great cricket. The guys on the sidelines who have a couple of niggles are improving, while the guys on the park are doing their job as well.”
A dejected Mashrafe Mortaza, Bangladesh skipper, said, “It was a good wicket. We were 20-30 short with the bat and the outfield was slow. It was the same wicket that we played the last game. We lost too many wickets in the middle overs and couldn’t get any big partnership. We needed a set batsmen in the middle overs, but in the end it got tight and if you want to win matches you need to get wickets. We did it very professionally in the end. We tried hard, but that can happen and the next one is a big match and hopefully we can step up in that. We have to take one game at a time, couldn’t manage today but we will try to be at our best in the next game.”
Ross Taylor, who was adjudged Man of the Match, said, “I was very nervous in the end. But gotta give the credit to Bangladesh and their supporters who came out in numbers. They put a lot of pressure on us and this could have gone either way. We thought 270-280 was a good score on this wicket but the bowlers kept it tight. It was nice to get over the line at the end of the day. We need to work on our running between the wickets, there were a couple of close calls there. I do enjoy batting with Kane and hopefully we run well between the wickets against Afghanistan.”