Neesham, Santner guide NZ to series-drawing win over Bangladesh in third T20I
Dec 31, 2023
Mount Maunganui [New Zealand], December 31 : A four-wicket haul by Mitchell Santner and fiery knocks by Finn Allen and James Neesham helped New Zealand secure a 17 runs win over Bangladesh in the third T20I via DLS method on Sunday.
The three-match T20I series has ended in a 1-1 draw. The second T20I could not produce a result due to rain.
New Zealand put Bangladesh to field first. Soumya Sarkar (4) was quickly removed by Tim Southee.
Rony Talukdar and skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto got a solid start but could not get going as Ben Sears trapped Talukdar lbw for just 10 while Adam Milne removed Shanto for 17 after he offered an easy catch to Finn Allen.
Bangladesh was 41/3 in 5.3 overs. At the end of the powerplay in six overs, Bangladesh was 45/3.
Bangladesh reached the 50-run mark in 7.2 overs.
Then following this, Santner ran through the middle order, removing Afif Hossain (14), Towhid Hridoy (16), Mahedi Hasan (4) and Shamim Hossain (9) one by one, sinking Bangladesh to 81/7 in 14.5 overs.
Bangladesh somehow reached the 100-run mark in 17.3 overs but were bundled out for 110 in 19.2 overs.
Santner (4/16) was the pick of the bowlers for NZ. Southee, Sears and Milne took two wickets each.
In the chase of 111 runs, Allen went for big shots from one end, witnessing the wickets fall from the other end.
Mahendi got Tim Seifert, Daryl Mitchell, while Shoriful Islam dismissed Glenn Phillips. Mark Chapman was also run out. All these batters could score just one run each. Kiwis were 38/4 in 6.5 overs.
Allen was removed by Shoriful for 38 off 31 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes. Half of the Kiwi line-up was back in the pavilion for 49 runs.
James Neesham and Santner stitched a match-saving partnership. They took NZ on the brink of a win but rain god intervened and NZ got a 17-run win via DLS Method. Neesham scored 28* in 20 balls, with a four and two sixes while Santner made 18* in 20 balls, with a boundary.
Santner was adjudged as the 'Player of the Match' for his all-round show.
