BAN vs NZ 1st Test, Day 1: Some disciplined bowling from the New Zealand spinner Glenn Phillips meant that Bangladesh end day 1 at 310/9 of the BAN vs NZ 1st Test match. Opting to bat first at the Sylhet International Stadium, Bangladesh openers Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Zakir Hasan gave a decent start to the home side. However, it did not take long for the spinners to make an impact as Ajaz Patel got the better of Hasan with Bangladesh losing the first wicket on 39 runs.
Hasan Joy top scored with 86 runs
After the fall of Zakir Hasan, Mahmud Hasan Joy (86 off 166 balls) and Najmul Hossain Shanto (37 off 35 balls) stitched a decent 50+ run partnership to take the home side near the 100-run mark. The partnership was backed with another good one between Hasan Joy and Mominul Haque (37 off 78 balls) to help reach Bangladesh near the 200 runs.
Several other batters including Mushfiqur Rahim (12 off 22 balls), Shahadat Hossain (24 off 54 balls), Mehidy Hasan Miraz (20 off 30 balls) and Nurul Hasan (29 off 28 balls) got starts on a good batting track in Sylhet. However, none of the Bangladeshi batters managed to convert their innings to a big knock.
Some decent contributions from the tail-enders including Nayeem Hasan (16 off 27 balls), Mohammad Shoriful Islam (13* off 8 balls), and Taijul Islam (8 off 21 balls) meant that Bangladesh crossed the 300-run mark at the end of Day 1 in BAN vs NZ 1st Test.
Phillips scalped 4-fer on Day 1
For New Zealand, off-spinner Glenn Phillips was simply exceptional. Phillips bowled with extreme control as he finished the day with the figures of 4/53 in 16 overs. Apart from that, Ajaz Patel and Kyle Jamieson also grabbed two wickets each. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi also took one wicket while pacer Tim Southee remained wicket-less on Day 1.
New Zealand will be looking to wrap things up on Day 2 morning and try to gain a big lead in the first innings. On the other hand, the home side will want to score as much as they can before trying to trap the Kiwi batting line-up with their tweakers.