Cricket: New Zealand give credit to 'fantastic' Bangladesh

New Zealand's captain Kane Williamson leaves the field with Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal. Photo / Photosport

New Zealand won the test, but Bangladesh earned plenty of compliments from the rival captain last night.

Kane Williamson pushed New Zealand to victory with his unbeaten 104, chasing 217 but Bangladesh bossed at least the first three days and Williamson wasn't about to let the chance go to hand out due credit, especially for the way they compiled their 595 for eight declared.

''We took lessons from them going into the second innings," he said.

''The way they batted (in the first innings) was beautiful on a soft, damp wicket. It was dark and there was rain around (on the first day), and they played well.

''They played fantastic cricket and it was great for us to bounce back and learn and play well and get the result."

Williamson acknowledged Bangladesh had no luck with injuries, having both opener Imrul Kayes and captain Mushfiqur Rahim paying visits to Wellington hospital during the test.

Kayes limped out late in Bangladesh's second innings and got to 36 while Mushfiqur took severe punishment on his way to 13 before being felled by a short ball from Tim Southee.

"Certainly they were unlucky with the injuries," Williamson said. ''That's never nice and hard to control. In terms of the weather, I thought they handled it better than us in the first innings."

Williamson took an ''anything can happen' attitude into the two second innings of the test.

Bangladesh had a 56-run lead at the halfway point.

''If you were able to bowl well, you can put sides under pressure and take wickets in clumps.

The way our bowlers came back after a really tough first innings and bowl with energy and put the ball in the right area was a great effort, which set the game up for us."

The last four Bangladesh wickets fell for just 23 as New Zealand's bowlers surged for the kill.

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal insisted that after they made 595 ''we knew this game is not finished yet".

''We always believed there will be one session, or period of 20-25 overs for both teams where whoever does well might win the test and that's what New Zealand did better than us and why they won."