CHRISTCHURCH: A courageous century by wicketkeeper Liton Das made Bangladesh a hard nut to crack but New Zealand finally broke through on Tuesday to win the second cricket Test by an innings and 117 runs to tie the two-match series.
Das batted almost one-handed for much of his innings after being struck on the glove. He weathered a barrage of short-pitched bowling from New Zealand to post his second Test century from only 106 balls.
Bangladesh rallied around his resilient example to force a match which many thought would be over quickly on Tuesday into the final session of the third day before the last wicket fell 20 minutes from scheduled stumps.
Das finally was out for 102 and the end came swiftly afterwards with Bangladesh losing its last wickets in dimming light at Hagley Oval. When the ninth wicket fell the crowd began baying for the veteran batsman Ross Taylor who will retire from Test cricket after his 112th Test to be given a chance to bowl.
When the light became too poor for the quicks to continue, captain Tom Latham bowed to the crowd’s demand and Taylor’s third ball of gentle off breaks brought a false shot from Ebadot Hossain who skied the ball to Latham. That brought the curtain down on Taylor’s 15-year Test career in the most unusual fashion and to the reverberating cheers of the crowd.
Taylor had bowled only 16 overs in all of his previous Tests for two wickets, the last time eight years ago. But fate conspired to bring his career to an extraordinary end. First mobbed by his teammates and presented the match ball, he walked from the field through a honour guard formed by Bangladesh, providing one last rich memory of an outstanding career.
“We needed to win this game to stay in the series and I thought we played fantastically well,” Taylor said.
“Bangladesh put us under pressure at various times and that was probably a fair reflection of where the series was at.
“I wanted to finish with a win and the guys obviously gave that to me.”
It was significant that the final catch was taken by Latham as the New Zealand captain had an outsized influence on this match. He scored 252, his second Test double century, in New Zealand’s first innings of 521-6 declared, then took six catches as New Zealand bowled out Bangladesh for 126 and 278 after enforcing the follow-on.
Taylor says it’s great to finish off career with win and a wicket
CHRISTCHURCH: A wicket with the final delivery of his Test career along with a series-levelling win over Bangladesh, veteran New Zealand batter Ross Taylor couldn’t have asked for a more befitting farewell after a 15-year-long journey in red-ball cricket and the star agreed it was “great”.
A talisman of New Zealand cricket, Taylor ended his Test career by dismissing Ebadot Hossain to help the hosts beat Bangladesh by an innings and 117 runs to level the series 1-1 at Christchurch on Tuesday.
“It’s great to finish off your career with a win and a wicket, I wanted to finish off with a win and the guys did it. Bangladesh put us under a lot of pressure a number of times, it’s only fair that we share the series,” an emotional Taylor told the official broadcasters after the match.
After the fall of Bangladesh’s ninth wicket, the crowd present at the Hagley Oval chanted for Taylor to be given the ball and New Zealand skipper Tom Latham obliged.
The 37-year-old veteran of 112 Tests couldn’t have imagined a better end to his five-day career by inducing a false shot from Hossain with only his third ball and Latham did the rest to give Taylor only his third Test wicket.
Taylor’s previous two victims were Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth during New Zealand’s tour of India in 2010.
