Cricket: Vettori applies the brakes on Bangladesh

By MARTYN WATTERSON

DHAKA - New Zealand applied the brakes to Bangladesh's innings with the hosts crawling to 165 for six at stumps on the opening day of the first test.

Mohammad Ashraful and Rajin Saleh rescued the side from five for three with a 115-run partnership, but Daniel Vettori struck back with two wickets.

Captain Khaled Mashud and Manzaural Islam were not out 12 and 16 respectively at the end of the day's play.

Besides making a crucial breakthrough in removing Ashraful for 67, Vettori, 25, joined Danny Morrison as the country's third-equal leading wicket-taker when Alok Kapali edged a catch to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum for 14.

Vettori has now taken 160 wickets at 38.14 in 56 tests, and yesterday he showed how important he is to the Black Caps with a tight bowling spell of two for 26 from 29 overs at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in hot and clear conditions.

Bangladesh added just 44 runs in the final two hours for the loss of two wickets.

Jacob Oram and James Franklin also finished with two scalps each.

Vettori gave the tourists a great start after tea when Ashraful was dismissed without adding to his score. He skied the ball to Nathan Astle at cover.

With Vettori conceding so few runs, the Bangladesh run rate began to suffocate, with only six runs added in the 30 minutes after the break.

That pressure paid off again when Vettori struck with a wicket maiden, drawing a top-edge from Kapali to McCullum.

That left Bangladesh 136 for six, undoing some of the good work done earlier.

Mashud and Islam were then happy to grind out singles as the session limped to a quiet end.

Bangladesh's nightmare start came in the first over when Hannan Sarker edged Oram's third ball to give Stephen Fleming a comfortable catch at first slip.

They barely managed to negotiate the second over from Franklin, with debutant Nafess Iqbal surviving a leg-before appeal.

The reprieve was shortlived as when Franklin bowled opener Javed Omar in the fourth over.

Omar tried to clamp down on a full delivery, only for the ball to ricochet off his bat into the stumps.

When the sparse band of supporters thought it couldn't get any worse, Iqbal's debut ended the next over when McCullum gloved an easy catch off Oram, leaving the hosts floundering.

But they fought back.

BANGLADESH

First innings



H. Sarkar c Fleming b Oram 0

J. Omar b Franklin 1

N. Iqbal c McCullum b Oram 1

R. Saleh c Oram b Franklin 41

M. Ashraful c Astle b Vettori 67

A. Kapali c McCullum b Vettori 14

K. Mashud not out 12

M. Islam not out 16



Extras (7lb, 5nb, 1w) 13--Total (for 6 wkts, 90 overs) 165Fall: 1/0 (Sarkar), 2/5 (Omar), 3/5 (Iqbal), 4/120 (Saleh), 5/124 (Ashraful), 6/136 (Kapali).



Bowling: J. Oram 18-7-27-2 (1nb), J. Franklin 13-5-23-2 (4nb), S. Styris 2-1-4-0, I. Butler 12-3-34-0 (1w), D. Vettori 29-15-26-2, P. Wiseman 16-5-42-0.






- NZPA