Rawalpindi [Pakistan], February 24 (ANI): New Zealand pacer Matt Henry went level with legendary Richard Hadlee for the record of most wickets in the ODIs for the Kiwis.
Henry spearheaded New Zealand’s pace attack against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi in the ongoing Champions Trophy on Monday. He returned with figures of 1/57 in his nine-over spell, which proved to be enough for him to go level with New Zealand’s pace icon.
With his blistering pace, Henry moved to joint-eighth for New Zealand’s highest-wicket-taker in the ODIs, with 158 scalps each. Henry achieved the feat in his 89th ODI match, 26 fewer than Hadlee’s tally of 115.
Henry struggled to make an early impact but eventually found his sole scalp towards death overs. Handed the responsibility to bowl the 44th over, Henry dealt a massive blow to Bangladesh by dismissing Rishad Hossain.
He outwitted the tail-ender by banging the ball outside off, putting Hossain in two minds. The Bangladesh batter, who was quickly scoring runs, spooned the ball up, which NZ skipper Mitchell Santner took.
Along with Henry, Michael Bracewell became just the fourth spinner for New Zealand to take a four-wicket haul in the ICC ODI tournaments. He proved to be a threat to the Bangladesh batters, who had no answers.
He tightened his line and lengths and ripped Bangladesh’s top order apart. He broke the 45-run opening stand by removing Tanzid Hasan. He then removed Bangladesh’s century scorer against India, Towhid Hridoy.
Bracewell cleaned up Bangladesh’s seasoned duo, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah, cheaply and ended his 10-over spell with figures of 4/26. He joined the exclusive club featuring Mitchell Santner, Daniel Vettori and Paul Wiseman. Among all the spinners, Vettori is the only ball tweaker who has achieved the feat twice.
The seasoned all-rounder broke the back of Bangladesh’s innings and spoiled their blueprint of fetching a 300-run-plus total. Bangladesh never recovered from Bracewell’s spell. The deck didn’t have too many demons for Bangladesh, as they made it look like.
Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto waged a lone war with his 77(110). He found some support in Jaker Ali, who continued to ride high on his form and slammed 45 (55).
Hossain was the major contributor from the tail-end, with his swift 26(25), which allowed Bangladesh to limp to 236/9. Apart from Bracewell, William ORourke turned out to be a force to be reckoned with. He hit the right lengths and ended the first inning with figures of 2/48 in his 10 overs. (ANI)
