Ahostile spell of fast bowling from Neil Wagner (5/45), admirably aided by his fellow left-arm seamer Trent Boult (4/52), took New Zealand to an innings victory on the final day of the second Test in Wellington.
The win was all the more impressive considering that rain washed out the first two days of play. Bangladesh resumed the final day needing another 141 runs to make New Zealand bat again with seven wickets in hand. With the ball losing its shine and New Zealand without their skipper Kane Williamson and first-choice wicketkeeper BJ Watling – neither player took to the field due to injury – it was no simple task for the hosts to win the game, let alone do so by the lunch interval.
Watling’s place behind the stumps was taken by the uncapped 27-year-old gloveman Peter Bocock, who has just three first-class appearances to his name. To his credit, in an alien environment, Bocock acquitted himself well throughout and didn’t display any obvious signs of lingering nerves.
Bangladesh, through Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Mithun, actually started the morning reasonably comfortably. On 112/3, having resumed the morning on 80/3, they would have harboured realistic aspirations of if not batting out the day, ensuring that New Zealand had to bat for the second time in the Test.
Then Trent Boult – who has now taken 23 wickets in his last three Tests – bowled a pearl of a delivery to dismiss the set Sarkar for 28. The ball, honing in for the left-hander’s off-stump, found Sarkar’s edge and subsequently provided yesterday’s double-centurion Ross Taylor with the simplest of chances in the slip cordon.
From that point, it was Neil Wagner who became the tormentor-in-chief. Running in with his characteristic hostility and forgoing the common practice of line and length bowling, Wagner stuck to his plan of short-pitched bowling aimed at the batsmen’s body with impressive regularity and conviction.
