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

Bangladeshis 2nd innings: preview, Auckland win,
Live Reports from previous days

AUCKLAND WRAP UP BIG WIN

Strangely, Brooke Walker, the Auckland captain, did not put the last two Bangladesh batsmen, Aminul Islam and Monjurul Sharif, under heavy pressure.

There were the regulation three slips and a gully waiting for the edge, but there were no pick-pocket close-in fieldsmen menacing the batsmen. Monjurul got the first four of the morning, through the open gully, to reduce the Auckland lead to the even 200.

However, the end came soon after when Monjurul jabbed down at a lifter from Chris Drum and the ball trickled through with enough vigour to dislosge a bail.

Bangladesh were out for 182 and Auckland had won by an innings and 193 runs.This was Drum's sixth wicket of the innings and his 10th, at a total cost of 66 runs.

Aminul long valiant fight against the odds left him high and dry with 79, after 267 minutes patient toil.

The win came after half an hour's play and the winner of the pressbox sweep for closest to the overs required was, not surprisingly, Gareth Bedford, the man from Cricinfo.

ONLY THE GAMBLERS WERE THERE

The TAB missed the chance of making some small change when it stayed away from the last morning of the Bangladesh-Auckland four-day cricket match at Eden Park's outer oval this morning.

When the clouds lifted and the big pitch cover was rolled away Bangladesh were 165 for nine wickets and had only one second innings wicket as a bargaining chip against Auckland's lead of 210 runs.

There were at least ten casual spectators watching the start, and all of them would probably have invested some money if the TAB had been running a book on how long the game would last, or on which numbered ball the last Bangladesh wicket would fall. Working out the odds against an Auckland win would have been the trickiest operation.