Christchurch, Jan 23 (AP/UNB) — Henry Nicholls was dismissed two runs short of a maiden century as New Zealand built a 65-run first innings lead over Bangladesh before lunch Monday on the fourth day of the second test.
Resuming at 260-7 in reply to Bangladesh’s 289, New Zealand was finally dismissed for 354 to gain a slight edge in a close match which has been heavily affected by rain.By lunch, Bangladesh had lost opener Tamim Iqbal (8) and was 20-1, reducing the deficit to 45. Soumya Sarkar was 9 not out and Mahmudullah was 3.
Nicholls was 56 not out when rain ended play early on the second day, then washed out all of the third day.
After a 30 minute delay on Monday caused by rain which had seeped under the covers, he formed partnerships of 30 with Tim Southee (17) and 57 with Neil Wagner (26) which gave the Black Caps the upper hand.
But after moving fairly smoothly into the 90s, Nicholls became bogged down and his growing anxiety about a maiden century — in his 11th test — became apparent.
At one point he French cut a ball from Taskin Ahmed close to his leg stump and at another, sparred a chance into the leg side which fell just short of the same bowler.
Nicholls lacks the traditional elegance of the left-hander; he has little backlift and tends to punch the ball into gaps in the field rather stroke it fluently. He has a tendency also to dangle the bat away from his body and that has caused him several times during his career to chop the ball onto his stumps.
At 98, he drove a ball forcefully back to off-spinner Mehedi Hasan who suffered a finger injury in doing his own fielding. That caused a brief delay which heightened the anxiety for Nicholls and only three balls later he edged a floated delivery from Mehedi onto his stumps.
Wagner made a bright 26 before he was the last man out, dismissed in unusual circumstances.
He was taking what seemed a simple second run when he was run out by wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan who back-handed the ball onto the stumps. Wagner had grounded his bat but television replays showed that he had lifted it again and that, as he leapt to make his ground, he had not grounded a foot inside the crease. He was in the air beside the wicket when the bails were removed.
New Zealand strengthened its position when it claimed Iqbal’s wicket before lunch. Tim Southee bowled a short ball to the opener whose pull shot flew directly to Mitchell Santner at deep square leg.
