Sylhet Test Day 2: Bangladesh lead by 44

Bangladesh ended the second day of their first Test against New Zealand with a 44-run lead as the Blackcaps ended the day on 266-8.

Kane Williamson hit his 29th Test century, while Taijul Islam picked up four wickets for Bangladesh. Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Nayeem Hasan, Shoriful Islam, and Mominul Haque picked up a wicket each.

New Zealand, four down at the beginning of the final session, lost Tom Blundell almost immediately as he glanced Nayeem’s delivery down the leg side to wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan Sohan.

However, from there on, Williamson formed a 78-run stand with Glenn Phillips, which took the attack to Bangladesh and saw skipper Nazmul Hossain Shanto turn towards part-timer Mominul for a wicket.

And it worked like a charm as Mominul induced an edge from Phillips, and Shanto took a good catch at first slip.

Williamson then reached his century off 189 balls and looked like taking New Zealand towards a strong position by the end of the day.

Things did not turn that way after Bangladesh took the new ball as in the first over following that, Taijul found the gap between Williamson’s bat and pad to castle him for 104.

Taijul then struck again at the end of the day to get rid of Ish Sodhi (0) to get New Zealand’s eighth.

Earlier, Taijul and Shoriful Islam came out to bat for Bangladesh in the morning as the score read 310-9 and they could stay there for just a ball as Tim Southee trapped Taijul LBW, although the umpire did not give him out.

However, following a review, the decision was overturned and the Bangladesh innings came to an end.

Bangladesh, expectedly, started with spin at one end as Mehidy took the ball, and in his first over, he had a big shout for LBW against Davon Conway.

The umpire said no and Bangladesh opted to review, which was wasted as Conway was struck outside the line.

The opening stand of Conway and Tom Latham (21) lasted 12.5 overs before the latter tried to sweep Taijul but could only manage a top edge, which Nayeem Hasan at fine leg gobbled up with ease.

Conway (12) departed a few minutes down the line when Miraz found his inside edge, which resulted in the ball hitting his pad and going up in the air, and debutant Shahadat Hossain at silly point took a brilliant one-handed catch to send the Blackcaps opener back to the hut.

Bangladesh could not manage another wicket in the session but lost Zakir Hasan to injury for the time being as he was struck in his right foot while fielding at silly point.

At the start of the second session, Williamson formed a 54-run partnership with Henry Nicholls (19), which was broken by Shoriful on his first ball after lunch. Nicholls prodded at a harmless delivery, and Nurul Hasan Sohan behind the stumps did the rest of the job.

Shoriful could have had another soon after as Daryl Mitchell played at a wide delivery and the Bangladesh team appealed but the umpire was unmoved. Wicketkeeper Sohan did not seem convinced, and thus Bangladesh decided against a review.

However, replays showed that Mitchell had indeed nicked it and a review would have seen the on-field call reversed.

With that reprieve, Mitchell then formed a 66-run stand with Williamson, which Taijul broke as Mitchell tried to step down against the left-arm spinner but completely missed the delivery, leading to the stumping of the batter.