New Zealand captain Kane Williamson scored an unbeaten 73 to guide his side to a comfortable six-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first of the three T20I at McLean Park in Napier.
New Zealand, who were bowling first after losing the toss gave three players their maiden T20I cap, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme and Ben Wheeler respectively. Bangladesh were off to a bad start, yet again on the tour. The visitors lost their first four wickets within 30 runs and were straight-away on the back foot.
For the hosts, the debutants found success early on, as each of them picked up one wicket. Speedster Ferguson scalped his second of the match and reduced ‘The Tigers’ to 67 for five.
Providing some resistance late in the order, batsman Mahmudullah scored a gritty fifty, smashing three fours and as many sixes. With hardly any support from the other hand, the right-hand batsman couldn’t see his side past even 150 as all they scored was 141 for eight after 20 overs. 24-year-old Ferguson finished with match figures of 3 for 32 in his quota of four overs.
In reply, New Zealand lost openers Neil Broom and Colin Munro for seven and zero respectively. Things didn’t seem to move much in their favour as they lost their top four wickets by the end of eleven overs.
Kane Williamson, regarded as a better longer-format player, led from the front and was well assisted by Grandhomme on the other end. The pair then notched up 82 runs for the fifth-wicket partnership, which eventually saw them cross the boundary line with two overs to spare.
Kane Williamson pulled off a match winning performance by scoring an unbeaten 73, finding boundary line on seven occasions (five fours & two sixes). He was also awarded as the Player-of-the-Match.
Both teams will face off each other in the second T20 on January 6th.
Brief Score:
Bangladesh 141/8 in 20 overs (Mahamudullah 52, Ferguson 3/32)
NZ 143/4 (18 overs) (Williamson 73*, Mustafizur 1/21) won by 6-wickets