Bangladesh A began their one-day series campaign in style, thrashing New Zealand A by 7 wickets in the first match at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.
With fiery spells from Syed Khaled Ahmed and Shariful Islam, four of New Zealand’s top five batters were dismissed without scoring a run.
The match started at 9 AM, and as soon as New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat, eyebrows were raised. Captain Nick Kelly’s decision soon looked questionable as he and his teammates struggled against Bangladesh’s pace attack. The hosts made full use of the early bounce and movement from the Sylhet pitch to dismantle the Kiwi top order.
Despite some resistance later in the innings, New Zealand A never truly recovered. Bangladesh A, under Nurul Hasan Sohan’s leadership, chased down a modest target with ease and took a 1–0 lead in the three-match series.
In that collapse, New Zealand’s top four batters failed to get off the mark. Only opener Rhys Mariu (42) and No. 8 Dean Foxcroft (72) offered some fight, but even their efforts couldn’t take the score past 150.
After the early breakthroughs by Shariful and Khaled, Ebadot Hossain — pushing for a return to the national team — picked up two wickets, while left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam, who recently earned a T20I recall, claimed three.
Chasing 148, Bangladesh A made it look easy. They won with 136 balls to spare, finishing on 149/3 in 27.2 overs.
New Zealand’s innings was in trouble from the start. Only Mariu and Foxcroft reached double figures. The rest of the top order had no answer to Shariful and Khaled’s pace and movement. Within the first seven overs, four batters had walked back to the dressing room.
In the third over, Shariful trapped Del Phillips LBW with an in-swinging delivery. Despite facing eight balls, the younger brother of international all-rounder Glenn Phillips couldn’t find his rhythm.
Khaled then struck twice in one over — removing Matt Boyle and Mohammad Abbas within three deliveries. Abbas, who set a record for the fastest ODI fifty on debut against Pakistan earlier this year, lasted only two balls before edging behind off a delivery outside off stump.
Nick Kelly followed soon after, bowled by a sharp delivery from Shariful that uprooted his off stump.
At the end of the seventh over, New Zealand’s score was a dismal 13/4. Khaled’s opening spell was stunning: 4 overs, 2 maidens, 2 runs, 2 wickets.
Mariu tried to rebuild, playing some elegant shots — including back-to-back boundaries off Tanvir and two more off Ebadot. At the other end, Josh Clarkson held on briefly but eventually fell for 7, caught behind off Ebadot.
Then came another blow — Mariu, trying to charge down the pitch to Tanvir, was stumped for 42. New Zealand were reduced to 58/6.
Mitchell Hay, who recently scored 99 off 78 balls with 7 sixes against Pakistan, was dismissed for just 4 by Tanvir. In the next delivery, Tanvir clean-bowled Christian Clark, leaving New Zealand reeling at 62/8.
Foxcroft then launched a counterattack, putting up 85 runs for the last two wickets. After the fall of the ninth wicket, Foxcroft and Ben Lister added 62 runs in 52 balls. Lister’s contribution was only 4 off 10 balls.
Foxcroft struck two boundaries off Shariful, smashed Khaled for three boundaries and a six, and cleared the ropes off Ebadot and Tanvir as well. He reached his fifty in 53 balls and continued aggressively, hitting a fourth six with a pull shot off Ebadot — but was caught behind off the very next ball. New Zealand A were bowled out in the 35th over.
By then, the pitch had eased considerably. Parvez Hossain Emon made his intentions clear with three boundaries in the first over. However, he didn’t last long, caught at deep square leg for 24 off 12 after trying to flick a full delivery from Clark.
Mohammad Naim Sheikh looked shaky early on, scored 18 from 20 balls, including three boundaries, but couldn’t build on it.
Anamul Haque, coming in at No. 3, looked fluent — hitting boundaries off his first two balls with elegant cover drives. He added two more fours off Ben Lister as Bangladesh raced to 70 runs in the powerplay.
Anamul and Mahidul Islam Ankon formed a steady partnership. Mahidul brought up their fifty-run stand with a six off left-arm spinner Jaden Lennox.
However, Anamul couldn’t convert his start, falling for 38 off 45 while attempting a sweep against Foxcroft.
Interestingly, Anamul, Parvez, and Naim were the top three run-scorers in the recent Dhaka Premier League, scoring 874, 798, and 618 runs respectively — but none could make a big score today.
After Anamul’s departure, Mahidul and captain Nurul Hasan saw the team through without further loss. Mahidul remained unbeaten on 42 off 61 balls, hitting 1 four and 3 sixes. Sohan finished with 20* off 25 balls, with one four and one six.
The second ODI will be played on Wednesday at the same venue.
Match Summary
- New Zealand A: 147 all out in 34.3 overs
(Mariu 42, Foxcroft 72; Khaled 3/27, Tanvir 3/45, Ebadot 2/35, Shariful 2/27) - Bangladesh A: 149/3 in 27.2 overs
(Anamul 38, Parvez 24, Mahidul 42*, Nurul 20*; Clark 2/30, Foxcroft 1/26)
Result: Bangladesh A won by 7 wickets
Player of the Match: Syed Khaled Ahmed
