Sylhet, Nov 29: Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam claimed 4-89 as Bangladesh dominated the second day of the opening test against New Zealand on Wednesday despite a century from Kane Williamson on a spin-friendly pitch.
Williamson hit a 104 for his 29th century amid a relentless spin attack as New Zealand reached 266-8 at stumps, trailing by 44 runs.
Bangladesh folded on its overnight score of 310 when skipper Tim Southee had Shoriful Islam out leg before wicket with the first ball of the morning.
The home side’s spinners got into act immediately, turning the balls admirably to trouble the New Zealand batters. Still, Williamson defied them with solid defence to keep the visitors in the game.
He got support from Glenn Phillips (42) and Daryl Mitchell (41) before the Bangladeshi bowlers made inroads in the last hour with the second new ball.
“It is one of those surfaces where it is hard to get a rhythm. You will get some good balls as well. I thought the application was good,” Williamson said.
“It would have been naturally nice to get a few more. Everybody would like to be out there fighting for the side. It has certainly posed a number of challenges out there. The wicket is deteriorating quite quickly, so we have to keep moving with it.” Openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway easily played Bangladesh’s lone pacer Shoriful Islam but found it much tougher against offspinner Mehidy Hasan and left-arm spinner Taijul Isalm.
Taijul bowled a tight line and the pressure eventually paid off when Latham, who had hit three fours in his 21 runs, tried to sweep but could only top-edge a catch to Nayeem Hasan at backward square leg.
Conway followed him a couple of overs later when Mehidy Hasan Miraz had him caught by Shahadat Hossain at the silly point as he tried to defend a quicker delivery when on 12. (AP)
