New Zealand 143 for 4 (Williamson 73*, de Grandhomme 41*) beat Bangladesh 141 for 8 (Mahmudullah 52, Ferguson 3-32)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Kane Williamson made his highest T20 score of 73 not out © AFP
Kane Williamson timed his unbeaten 73 beautifully to help New Zealand to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first T20 in Napier. Along with Colin de Grandhomme, he rode out a early wobble as Bangladesh took four early wickets while defending 141.
Williamson struck five fours and two sixes in his 55-ball knock, surviving two chances on the boundary that were down to errors in judgment by Soumya Sarkar and Imrul Kayes who stood too far inside the rope at deep midwicket and long-off respectively.
Until 10.1 overs, Bangladesh were threatening New Zealand with a heist. Shakib Al Hasan had taken a stunning catch at deep midwicket in the third over to get rid of Neil Broom, before Mustafizur Rahman removed Colin Munro for a duck in the next over. Shakib had Corey Anderson caught at long-off before Sarkar and Mashrafe Mortaza combined to run the debutant Tom Bruce out at the start of the 11th over.
But de Grandhomme slammed a big six over midwicket in the same Mashrafe over before Williamson struck Shakib for a four – the result of Sarkar standing too far inside – and six in his last over. He reached his sixth fifty in T20s before de Grandhomme thumped two more sixes, the last one over cover to seal the game with two overs to spare. The pair added 81 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket with de Grandhomme unbeaten on 41 off 22 balls.
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Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo