'How's the Josh?'- Clarkson's All-Round Performance Push Central Stags to Title
New Zealand Announce squads for Sri Lanka and Pakistan T20I series, Tom Latham to lead
Super Smash: Cole McConchie, bowlers hand Canterbury thumping win against Central Districts
5th T20I: New Zealand fight hard to salvage pride after Bangladesh took home series
New Zealand defeated hosts Bangladesh by 27 runs in the fifth and final T20I match of the series to limit the series to a 3-2 result. The hots already had an unassailable lead in the series after winning the fourth game of the series and the win by Blackcaps could only salvage their pride leading up to an important series against Pakistan and ICC World T20 due in a month’s time. Chasing a target of 162 runs which appeared a steep one considering the nature of pitches used in the series, the hosts got off to a sluggish start and lost Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar just when they were looking to get a move on. The duo was eliminated by the spin twins of Blackcaps—Ajaz Patel and Cole McConchie, who have been ripping their spinning deliveries in the series. Even before the hosts could gather some momentum after the loss of Sarkar and Das, they lost the big wicket of Mushfiqur Rahim, who has had a disappointing series with the bat. Bangladesh lost four big wickets in the space of 27 balls while they could muster only 20 runs in the same period. The momentum was never with them, but Afif Hossain swung his bat around valiantly to lead the counterattack. He and the skipper Mahmudullah forged a rapid partnership of 53 runs from just seven overs to put the hosts back on track. However, as soon as Mahmudullah fell to Scott Kuggeleijn, the lower-order could not stand up to rescue the hosts and Afif was left stranded at one end just one run shy of his half-century. Earlier, New Zealand skipper Tom Latham won the toss and elected to bat first on what promised to be a decent batting track. The openers Fin Allen and Rachin Ravindra provided them with a fantastic start and took the team past the 50-run mark inside the mandatory powerplay. However, their innings too suffered a stutter as wickets kept on falling at regular intervals. After the fall of Ravindra and Allen, Will Young and Collin de Grandhomme failed as well to leave the skipper Latham scrambling in the middle. He got support from the experienced Henry Nicholls and the duo carried the Blackcaps past the 100-run mark. Skipper Latham brought up a well-compiled half-century of 32 balls with the help of two fours and as many sixes but he could not provide a rollicking finish to the Blackcaps and that job was well done by Cole McConchie, who smashed a 10-ball 17 to take the Blackcaps past the 160-run mark and put enormous pressure on the hosts. New Zealand were found out in the conditions stacked heavily in the favour of spin bowlers but they did not fail to adapt as their Trans-Tasman rivals Australia did earlier. They were made to work hard for the runs and wins but the two wins and strong fight they have put on in the series would have given welcome signs of depth and talent in the squad going forward to the two T20 World Cups.
BAN vs NZ | 3rd T2OI: Ajaz Patel gives hosts taste of their own medicine to keep series alive
New Zealand batsmen have not been able to find a way around Bangladesh spinners to come at the top of the game but they also had quality spinners in their rank to stage a comeback in the five-match series. They unleashed their spin duo of Ajaz Patel and Cole McConchie to stop the hosts from getting an unassailable lead in the series. Chasing a target of 126 runs, which have been proven to be stiff to get on pitches in the country, Bangladesh were blown away at 77 runs after a decent start against the new ball. Ajaz Patel was their tormentor in chief by picking a four-wicket haul while the off-spinner McConchie provided excellent support with a three-wicket haul. The right-armer started the rough ride for the hosts and Patel made life terrible for them with the big wickets of Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah to not allow them a breathing space in the middle order. In the end, there was no one to rescue the hosts and the spin twins shared seven wickets between them to leave Bangladesh on the mat and helped the Blackcaps win the first game of the series. Earlier, the Blackcaps too did not have a great start in the first innings with the bat as Fin Allen was done in by Mustafizur, who had not had a great game in the second game of the series. Then, the partnership between Rachin Ravindra and Will Young stabilised New Zealand. However, before they could take the game away from the hosts, Mohammad Saifuddin struck twice and halted their momentum in the middle phase of the game. With half of the side back to the pavilion and a series loss in sight at the halfway stage of the game, Henry Nicholls and Tom Blundell batted with a risk-free approach to take the tourists to a respectable total. The win by New Zealand has opened up the series in a cracking way and has also asked some questions of the Bangladesh batting group, whose failures were getting brushed under the carpet with the domination of opposition batsmen by the spinners so far in the series.
Composed Conway leads Wellington Firebirds to Super Smash title
Devon Conway played a tremendous inning, helping the Wellington Firebirds chase down 176 against Canterbury Kings at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. With this win, the Firebirds became only the second team after Auckland Aces to win back to back Super Smash titles in the 16-year history of the tournament. This victory also pushed Firebirds to their fourth overall title, equalling Aces for most Super Smash titles in the history of the league. Conway, 29 was at his very best playing one of the finest innings of the tournament. His knock became even more important as the highest run-getter in the tournament, Finn Allen of the Birds got out cheaply for just 16. Soon After Tom Blundell departed for a duck as well, forcing Conway to change his role from just being a sheet anchor to an accelerator as well. Combining together with Troy Johnson at first and Jimmy Neesham later on, Conway paved the way for a Firebird win. But that did not come about without any hiccups. At one point in time when Neesham got out in the 15th over, the chase seemed to be getting away from the Firebirds. Only 22 runs came off the next three overs including the fall of skipper Micahel Bracewell’s wicket. 21 runs were required of the last two overs and Conway decided to matters in hands, hitting matt Henry for 15 runs to make the final over a formality. South Africa born Conway’s 63 balls 93 turned out to be the difference between the two teams. Earlier in the evening, Canterbury Kings were put to bat first after losing the toss. They could not get going at any point in the game as wickets kept falling at regular interval. The highest partnership for the Kings was 65 runs for the second wicket between Chad Bowes and Daryl Mitchell. Skipper Cole McConchie was the highest run-getter for the Kings, scoring 44 off 39 deliveries. Logan van Beek was the best bowler for the Firebirds, finishing with 3-28 in his four overs.