Trent Boult becomes 4th NZ bowler to register 300 Test wickets in 2nd Test vs Bangladesh
New Zealand pacer Trent Boult on Monday (January 10) reached the milestone of 300 Test wickets.
The left-arm seamer achieved the feat on Day 2 of the ongoing second Test against Bangladesh at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
Boult is the fourth Black Caps cricketer to achieve the milestone of 300 Test wickets and he brought up the landmark in his 75th Test. Earlier, Sir Richard Hadlee, Daniel Vettori, and Tim Southee had registered 300 Test wickets.
On Day 2 of the ongoing Test, Boult scalped the wickets of Shadman Islam, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Liton Das, and Mehidy Hasan. The left-arm seamer dismissed Mehidy to bring up his 300th wicket in Test cricket.
At stumps on Day 2, Boult ended with 5/43 – his ninth five-wicket haul in Test cricket as Bangladesh were bowled out for 126 and conceded a lead of 395 runs to the hosts.
Earlier, resuming Day 2 at 349/1, Conway brought up his century but after a knock of 109, he was sent back to the pavilion via a run-out.
Wickets kept falling, but skipper Tom Latham remained firm at one end. Latham went on to play a remarkable knock of 252 off just 373 balls with the help of 34 fours and 2 sixes.
Wicketkeeper-batter Tom Blundell also chipped in with an unbeaten knock of 57 as New Zealand finally declared their innings at 521/6.
Conway completed a century from the first ball of the day and Tom Latham reached his second double century as New Zealand continued its relentless accumulation of runs Monday on the second day of the second Test against Bangladesh.
New Zealand went to lunch at 423/5 with Latham 215 not out. Conway was left 99 not out at stumps on day one and said he expected to need a sleeping pill to get some rest.
He wasted no time in completing unfinished business Monday, taking a single from the first ball from Ebadot Hossain to post his third century to go along with two half centuries in only five tests.
The South Africa-born left-hander, who scored a century in the first innings of the first test, now has 623 runs in nine test innings at an average of 69.22. Conway seemed in full flight when, on 109, he was run out when Latham pursued a short single and Mehidy Hasan had a direct hit at the non-striker’s end.
His dismissal brought to the crease Ross Taylor for what is likely to be his last Test innings. The 37-year-old cricket great will retire from tests after this match in which he equaled Daniel Vettori’s record of 112 Test matches for New Zealand.
Given the strong position New Zealand is in, there is only a slim chance Taylor will bat again in the match.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 1st innings 521/6 decl (Tom Latham 252, Devon Conway 109, Tom Blundell 57 n.o., Will Young 54; Shoriful Islam 2/79) vs Bangladesh 1st innings 126 (Yasir Ali 55, Nurul Hasan 41; Trent Boult 5/43, Tim Southee 3/28)