Tour match: Auckland v Bangladeshis at Auckland, 12-15 Dec 2001 CricInfo Live Report

Tour match: Auckland v Bangladeshis at Auckland, 12-15 Dec 2001
Don Cameron

Auckland 1st innings: preview, drinks, Bangladesh strike back, lunch, end of innings,
Auckland 2nd innings: drinks,
Bangladeshis 2nd innings: tea, drinks, stumps,
Live Reports from previous days

THE GRIND GOES ON

Mills replaced Drum when his figures were 13-7-10-3 and immediately lost a big lbw appeal against Aminul. The Bangladeshi replied with a straight drive for four, the best shot of his innings so far and the tourists' total trickled past 100 from 47 overs

Yet another loud Auckland appeal was turned down when Mills claimed an edged catch from Masud down the legside to Young. The Aucklanders looked dismayed when the appeal was denied by umpire Cowie.

Auckland needed something to break the deadlock, and it came from the simple manoeuvre of Mills bowling round the wicket to Masud. Mills pitched on a driving length, Masud got the corner of the bat to the ball which whipped out into the covers when Horsley held a fine, low catch. Masud stood his ground until umpire Cowie signalled then dismissal.

The next Auckland ploy, the leg-spin bowling of Walker, was not an immediate success for the new batsman Enamul clubbed one ball for a straight four, and drove the next to the cover boundary.

Enamul looked solid, and even managed a rare feat not used before in this match by the Bangladeshis -- he lofted a drive over the close-in field for two.

The ever-patient Aminul was given a full-toss gift by Walker which he hammered to the long on boundary for his sixth four, and the first Bangladeshi 50 in the match, which took the stocky right-hander 195 minutes.

At Walker's request the umpires called for an extra half-hour's play (minimum of eight overs) in which Auckland needed three wickets for victory -- and brought back Drum in the extra-time bid.

The ruse worked in the third over, with Drum bowling the stubborn Enamul for 17, Bangladesh 142 for eight, the Aminul-Enamul stand worth 38 runs. Sharif, who is vertically challenged, tried to handle Drum by ducking under each ball, but inevitably Drum got a ball on line and had him lbw at 148 for nine.

Monjurul, the last man, just escaped being caught-and-bowled by Drum (which would have been his 10th wicket of the match) and the dogged Aminul Islam, four hours over his 71 not out, finished the day in some style with 12 runs from Drum's last over.

Bangladesh, 165 for nine, were still there at the end, still 210 runs behind, and Auckland needing one more wicket tomorrow to complete their innings win.

THE BANGLADESH SLIDE CONTINUES

Afternoon tea talk about the possibility of a three-day win for Auckland appeared closer to the truth when Drum, changing to the grandstand end, made the ball hustle through quickly and into Sanwar Hossain's stumps before the right-hander could get his defences in place.

Two runs later, Khaled Mahmud joined the march back to the grandstand when he tried an award hook shot at a shortish ball from Drum, and the catch lobbed easily to Mark Richardson at short mid-wicket.

Obviously shaken by these sudden disasters, Aminul and his captain Masud went completely defensive, scoreless for 20 minutes against accurate bowling from Drum and Adams.

Aminul at last broke the deadlock with a fine leg glance for four from Adams, but Drum seemed almost unplayable In 40 minutes since tea Bangladesh had scored 64 runs for two wickets, with Masud still on nought after half an hour.

The main cause for the extra-cautious approach was the medium-fast accuracy of drum, whose figures at one stage were 11 overs, seven maidens, five runs, three wickets. It seemed as if Masud had edged a single from Adams, but the umpire ruled it a bye.

Eventually Masud did make a start, driving Drum for three from the 28th ball he received. Aminul seemed heartened by this and worked Adams to the mid-wickets boundary for a four.

In the hour since tea Bangladesh had dawdled from 71 for four to 94 for six.

BANGLADESH ON THE EDGE

Aminul Islam joined the heart-in-the-mouth brigade when he edged the first ball he received from Canning after drinks, but the edge dropped just in front of Aaron Barnes at gully.

Al-Sahariar raised Bangladesh hopes with a flowing drive for four from Canning, Aminul cut Andre Adams for four past gully, and Al-Sahariar put his foot more heavily on the accelerator with two fours from Canning's next over.

Adams quickly struck back, beating Al-Sahariar and getting an lbw appeal approved by umpire Cowie after the elegant right-hander had scored 34, with five fours.

Mohammed Ashraful, the 17-year-old batsman and another in the high-risk bracket, tried as flashing drive at the first ball he received from Walker, the Auckland leg-spinner. Ashraful missed, the ball went very close to the stumps and Young almost succeeded with his stumping attempt.

In the next over Ashraful did well to cut down a cut which went through gully for four.

But Auckland kept the pressure on with Walker's spin and Admass aggressive fast-mediums, and eventually they got the breakthrough.

Ashraful, reasonably watchful on defence, was stranded by a full-length ball from Adams, and was palpably lbw -- perhaps the most definite of all the successful and unsuccessful lbw appeals in the match. This left Bangladesh teetering at 71 for four wickets by tea.

TOURISTS IN EARLY TROUBLE

Facing the deficit of 375 Bangladesh were living dangerously from the start. Drum had one hostile over and when Kyle Mills bowled the second Al-Sahariar, the in-form opener of the first innings, twice squirted fours through a gap between third slip and gully.

The Aucklanders were not amused by these narrow escapes, nor did they looked pleased when in his third over Drum beat the stroke of Javed Omar, caught on the crease, and appealed mightily for lbw.

The Aucklanders, and especially Drum, seemed astounded when umpire Tony Hill turned down the appeal.

Drum was in a happier mood in his next over when he again beat Javed defensive prod, the ball thundered into the pads and this time umpire Hill granted the appeal. The off-line view suggested the bounce may have been a little higher than for Drum's first appeal, but Hill was obviously convinced that the ball would have hit the stumps.

Habibul Bashar was another from the living-dangerously mould when he was sent back by Al-Sahariar when trying for a risky single, and Bashar was only saved because the throw did not score a direct hit on the stumps.

In his next over Drum had two vast lbw appeals against Bashar that did not win umpire Hill's approval.

Bashar, still scoreless, continued his life on the knife edge when he waved his bat at a ball from Mills which went high down the leg side, appeared to hit the bat or glove and was caught by Young, the Auckland keeper.

The Aucklanders gathered to congratulate Mills and Young for the dismissal, only to find umpire Doug Cow dismissing the appeal. The Aucklanders looked totally surprised by the verdict.

However, Basher's lucky innings, still without a run, finished with Mills' next ball, and in typically exotic fashion. Basher swung into an extravagant heave designed to put the ball over the mid-wicket boundary, but instead missed and was bowled.

Bangladesh, two for 20, were very much on the back-foot again, runs came only in a trickle and the tourists were close to their first innings scoring rate of slightly under two runs an over. By the time of the drinks break Bangladesh were 26 for two wickets, Al-Sahara 17 not out.

HORSLEY JUST MISSES CENTURY

Strong driving from Canning and two stinging drives by Horsley took the menace out of the Bangladesh bowling, which fell back on the modest medium-pace of Khaled Mahmud.

The Aucklanders reached a 50-run partnership from 61 balls, and Bangladesh opted for the reasonably accurate and economical Enamul Hoque, the slow left-armer as Horsley moved steadily into the 80's. Masud helped check the Auckland advance by setting his field wide, with six men on the boundary

Enamul brought his field up, with only four on the fence for Canning, and the big-hitting Aucklander became ultra-cautious and solemnly poshed most of the balls back down the pitch to the bowler.

Horsley, too, was hampered by the one-day, run-saving field and tip-toed through the early 90's with singles. He was poised on 95, five minutes before lunch, when the Bangladesh war of attrition undid the 20-year-old Aucklander.

After being confined to singles, Horsley saw Mahmud bowl what looked like a four-ball outside the off-stump, made a big swing in trying to beat the deep-set field, but got only a find edge and Masud had his third catch of the morning.

The talented Auckland left-hander had batted just over four hours for his 95, facing 157 balls and hitting 12 fours and one six. Chris Drum skied a catch to give Enamul his only wicket, Auckland finished their first innings at 495, with Canning not out 36 and Auckland had a lead of 375 with five sessions of play remaining.

QUICK WICKETS FOR BANGLADESH

Sail may have had hopes of batting practice from his batsman, but instead he watched his men having unusual training -- making the jounrey from dressing room to the pitch.

Brooke Walker, the Auckland leader, was first to go after the score had moved from 404 to 407, when he was beaten by a ball from Monjurul Sharif with the edge going easily into the gloves of the keeper Khaled Masud.

Four balls later Monjurul was in the limelight again, with Reece Young ticvkling a catch to Masud and, scoreless, joining the thin ranks of batsmen who walk when they hit the ball rather than wait for the umpire's dismissal.

Andre Adams, Auckland's "action man" so far this summer, started in spectacular fashion when he hammered the fourth ball he received, from Monjurul over long on for six.

Adams' departure was equally spectacular for he missed a huge straight drive at a ball from Mohammed Sharif and his off-stump cart-wheeled along the ground -- a fact which had Sharif raising his hand in ntriumph and suggesting he weas ready for a victory lap.

Horsley moved solidly into the 70's with two handsome driven fours and Tama Canning, arguably the best No 10 batsman in New Zealand, started with two crisp boundaries, and just missing a six over long off.

So, after the stumbling start when three wickets were lost between 404 and 416, Auckland were cruising along again by the time they reached drinks at 451 for eight, with Horsley enjoying a personal best of 81.

TRAINING TIME FOR AUCKLAND

Auckland cricket coach Tony Sail had no compunction in using the start of the third day against Bangladesh as elaborate match practice on the Eden Park outer oval this morning.

Auckland, 404 for five wickets, started the day 284 runs against the touring side, and the Bangaldeshis might already be facing an innings defeat before the end of the third day.

However, Sail said he wanted Auckland to bat on for some time today, mainly to set up some new targets for his players. The first requirement was match batting practice for the not out men Nick Horsley (57) and Brooke Walker (13) and the rest of the Auckland list.

"There has been so much rain recently that a lot of our batsmen have not had much time in the middle and this is a good opportunity for them to get in some solid practice.

"Also, we are interesting in setting ourselves targets -- so many runs in a session and things like that. I would fancy our chances of bowling Bangladesh out in their second innings, and we want to look how many sessions we might need to do that."

As far as Auckland's fickle climate allows there should be a full quota of six hours, from the normal starting time of 10.30 am, as blue skies and high clouds greeted the players this morning.