Popli and Hampton shine as NZ XI defeat Bangladesh

MASTER BLASTER: Bharat Popli in action during a century for Northern Districts last season. PHOTO/photosport

Bay of Plenty stars Brett Hampton and Bharat Popli starred for New Zealand XI in a one-day fixture to open Bangladesh's tour of New Zealand at Whangarei's Cobham Oval yesterday.

The two former Tauranga Boys' College teammates, who played First XI cricket under captain Kane Williamson, made crucial contributions in the victory.

Hampton bowled with good pace and vigour in taking 2-44 off eight overs as Bangladesh made 245-8 in their 43 overs, reduced from 50 due to rain.

Popli batted at his favoured spot at three and scored a well-made 45 off 48 balls before holing out off top-class left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan.

At 199-7 it looked all over for the New Zealand X1until Hampton and Aucklander Ben Horne won the match with a partnership of 48. Hampton scored an unbeaten 29 off 21 balls, including five typically hard-hit boundaries to steal the show.

The opportunity to impress against Bangladesh in limited overs cricket comes at just the right time for both players.

Popli is a rarity in the modern age, playing first-class cricket without a single appearance for the Knights in either of the shorter forms of the game, which is hard to fathom.

Last season Popli, 26, won the NZC Domestic Player of the Year award as well as Northern Districts Cricketer of the Year and Batsman of the Year.

Popli joined Martin Crowe, Jeff Crowe, Graeme Hick and Michael Papps in the select group of batsmen to have scored 1000 runs in a New Zealand first-class season.

His breakthrough season netted him 1149 runs from 10 games at 65.78, including three centuries. On three other occasions he was dismissed in the 90s.

He was still at Tauranga Boys' when he made a century on debut for Bay of Plenty against Hamilton in the 2008/09 season. He has 10 centuries for the Bay, five more than the previous record of four, shared by Richard Shrimpton, Mike Wright and Mathew Hart.

For Hampton, 25, nailing down a permanent place in the Northern Knights side is taking longer.

A highly promising tennis player, Hampton did not switch to cricket until his last year at Tauranga Boys' after prompting from Williamson but quickly made an impact with his raw pace and ball striking ability.

The Greerton allrounder made his first-class debut against Auckland at Bay Oval last October and has taken 15 wickets at a useful average of 27.93 with his medium-fast deliveries. He has scored one 50 in nine innings at 25.83 batting down the order.

Hampton has played 12 List A one-dayers for the Knights and six Twenty20 games.

His performances for Bay of Plenty have been pivotal to the successful Hawke Cup performances in recent seasons. He holds the highest score for Bay of Plenty of 194 against Hamilton in 2013.

Bangladesh start their international series with the first ODI against New Zealand at Christchurch's Hagley Oval on Boxing Day.