Will Young ton carries Black Caps to comfortable win

By Kris Shannon

Rachin Ravindra’s homecoming innings lasted two balls. The batter he squeezed out of the first-choice XI had a much happier return.

After his opening partner fell for a duck, Will Young cracked a third ODI ton as the Black Caps earned a 44-run win over Bangladesh in a rain-interrupted series opener, the teams’ first action since the World Cup.

Ravindra captured global attention during that tournament, smashing three centuries after supplanting Young atop the order. But with Devon Conway among six players sitting out this series, the duo opened together in Dunedin and the lower-profile partner enjoyed his turn in the spotlight.

Young especially shone after a third rain delay reduced the contest to 30 overs a side, joining Tom Latham in launching a blistering attack once the covers had been removed for good.

The pair helped the hosts plunder 131 runs in 10.4 overs upon resumption, combining classical drives with more contemporary shot-making to regularly breach the University Oval boundaries.

Young stroked 14 fours and four sixes during an 84-ball knock of 105, needing only 21 deliveries to score his second 50 runs and reach three figures for the first time since last April.

The 31-year-old’s aggression was atypical and necessitated by the shortened contest, lifting New Zealand to a total of 239-7 that proved more than sufficient - especially once Young completed a dream day with a spectacular outfield catch.

“It was a funny old innings, coming on and off all the time,” Young told TVNZ. “Tommy and I set the platform early when the ball was doing a bit and the wicket was a bit tricky, then after the rain break, we knew we only had 10 overs to bat, so went out and had some fun.”

That fun was clear — as was the initial challenging nature of the pitch. After New Zealand had been sent in, both Ravindra and Henry Nicholls were dismissed for two-ball ducks, Shoriful Islam moving the ball away enough to find the batters’ edge.

Young and Latham set about hauling their side out of that 5-2 hole, gradually at first and then in a hurry. The pair put on 171 from 145 balls as Latham (92 off 77) delivered a much-needed innings of significance.

The stand-in skipper endured a difficult World Cup, posting half-centuries against the Netherlands and Afghanistan but otherwise only once passing double figures. Latham was then one of many batters who struggled in arduous conditions during the drawn test series in Bangladesh, before shrugging off that slump in style.

It could have continued, however, had he not been dropped by Soumya Sarkar when on 18, making the most of that life to become the 12th Black Cap to register 4000 ODI runs.

Latham proceeded to apply the breakneck pace after the rain finally cleared, lapping one stunning six before being unfortunate to chop on with a century in sight.

With Shoriful and Hasan Mahmud limited by overs restrictions, Young continued to feast on the rest of the attack, collecting six boundaries in seven balls while racing to his ton.

“We were a bit fortunate that Bangladesh used a lot of their front-line bowlers early, so when we came back out after the break, they had to make up some overs,” Young said. “It was just whoever was on strike tried to clear the rope.”

Debutante Josh Clarkson was among a string of late runouts, facing only the innings’ final delivery, but the Central Districts all-rounder had a much better bow with the ball.

Bangladesh were well-placed on 80-2 when Clarkson struck in the 12th over, offering Anamul Haque extra bounce and collecting a simple return catch. The 26-year-old then repeated the feat the following over, deceiving Litton Das with a slower bouncer to collect figures of 2-24.

Fellow debutant Will O’Rourke (1-35) was at first a little loose but seized a maiden scalp with an unplayable yorker from the last ball of the match, while Ish Sodhi took 2-35 and Adam Milne finished with 2-46.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission