Taylor hands Kiwis series win

Ross Taylor scored an impressive 78 off just 52 balls in New Zealand’s run chase to give them an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the 3-ODI series.

New Zealand beat Bangladesh by five wickets at the University Oval at Dunedin, in another comfortable outing to clinch the series.

The hosts won the toss and put Bangladesh in first, hoping to capitalise on the bowler friendly conditions at the start. The decision turned out to be the right one as they struck early and reduced their opposition to just 15 for three at the end of the Quick start overs. The black caps did not let up and inflicted further damage with another couple of wickets, leaving the visitors in dire straits with only 46 runs on the board. They could have been bowled out very cheaply from that point but Mushfiqur Rahim and Naeem Islam had different ideas. The duo applied themselves in the middle and kept nudging away at the Kiwi bowlers, showing no signs of being under pressure. They went on to share a 101 run stand off just 149 balls which brought some respectability to their total, as they finished with 183 at the end of 50 overs.

The hosts lost Brendon McCullum early but Martin Guptill and Peter Ingram added 43 for the second wicket to help them get a firm grip on the game. The partnership was finally broken in the tenth over which brought Ross Taylor out to the middle. Taylor was in the mood for some big hitting and that was always going to prove difficult for Bangladesh to handle. He scored a total of 78 runs with eleven boundaries which included 5 sixes and maintained a Batting Momentum of 148. He could not stay there to finish things off but got his side into a safe position. They eventually reached their target in just the 28th over to complete another comfortable outing.

Ross Taylor was adjudged Man of the Match for his entertaining knock.