New Zealand 197-0 (Raval 109*, Latham 83*) trail Bangladesh 234 (Tamim 126, Wagner 5-47) by 37 runs
Jeet Raval’s maiden Test hundred underlined New Zealand’s dominance over Bangladesh’s bowling on the second morning in Hamilton. The unbroken opening partnership between Raval and Tom Latham reached 197, New Zealand’s highest since 2003, and their best against Bangladesh.
Raval went to lunch on 109 off 175 balls, with 16 fours and a six while Latham was batting on 83 off 151 balls, aided by ten fours and a six.
Raval reached two important milestones with one shot in the 51st over, as he pulled four off Ebadat Hossain, getting to his century and 1,000 Test runs. Latham too reached a milestone of his own, as he became the 15th New Zealander to complete 3,000 Test runs. They were in full control, hardly playing and missing or getting hit on the pads even as Bangladesh resorted to a straighter line of attack.
Beginning the day on 86 for no loss, Latham was the first to find the boundary, an aerial clip through midwicket. Raval started forcing the pace with two fours in the 15th over. Thereafter, he struck three more off Ebadat, past gully, point and cover.
With two fours in the 51st over, Raval reached his maiden Test century off 163 balls, to warm applause from the small crowd that turned up at Seddon Park. Couple of overs later, he gave them the first six of the session, hammering Mehidy Hasan over midwicket, leaving Bangladesh utterly deflated after a fruitless morning.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo