Tim Southee’s bitter-sweet five-wicket haul boosts Kiwis, Mustafizur Rahman loses his ‘Fizz’

It was a day of records in the third and final ODI between New Zealand and Bangladesh at the University Oval in Dunedin. Ross Taylor became the leading run-getter for New Zealand in ODIs by going past Stephen Fleming’s tally of 8007 runs. Fifties from Henry Nicholls, Tom Latham and aggressive knocks from Colin de Grandhomme and James Neesham helped New Zealand reach 330/6. In response, Bangladesh was blown away and despite Sabbir Rahman scoring his maiden century, Bangladesh fell short by 88 runs. New Zealand won the series 3-0 and they prolonged Bangladesh’s wait for a win in the country. In 13 ODIs between the two sides in New Zealand, Bangladesh have always come out second best while the University Oval in Dunedin continued to the favorite hunting ground for the Blackcaps, having not lost a single game across all formats.

Bangladesh’s poor show with the bat was primarily due to Tim Southee’s 6/65, his third five-wicket haul in ODIs. However, the haul was bittersweet for New Zealand’s key strike bowler. Southee entered a select list of bowlers who have had the most expensive five-wicket haul in ODI history. Sri Lanka’s Charika Buddhika had figures of 5/67 in a match against Zimbabwe in Sharjah in 2001 while Canada’s Khurram Chohan took 5/68 against Scotland in 2014. Australia’s Jason Gillespie conceded 70 runs but took five wickets in the clash against Pakistan in Nairobi, Kenya in 2002. Steven Finn conceded 71 runs in the 2015 World Cup clash against Australia in Melbourne but he took a hat-trick and ended with five wickets.

RELATED

However, the world record in terms of runs conceded is 5/73 when Scotland’s Gordon Goudie was at the receiving end of Australia’s onslaught in 2009. Southee’s figures, although slightly low on runs, but is high on the wickets column.

While Southee endured a bittersweet day, it was a terrible day for Mustafizur Rahman, the Bangladesh left-arm pacer dubbed ‘The Fizz’. Mustafizur started off expensively and things got progressively worse as the game progressed. He ended his last over with 18 runs and ended with figures of 2/93 and these were the third-most expensive figures by a Bangladesh bowler in ODIs.

Shafiul Islam conceded 97 runs and took two wickets in nine overs against England in the 2010 ODI in Birmingham and is still on top for most expensive bowling figures. Shafiul features again when he conceded 95 runs and took three wickets in 10 overs against Pakistan in the Asia Cup encounter in Dambulla in 2010. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Bangladesh has never won an ODI against New Zealand in New Zealand.
• Mustafizur Rahman had the third-worst bowling figures in ODIs for Bangladesh.
• Ross Taylor became the leading run-getter for New Zealand in ODIs.