New Zealand win by 167 runs in twelveth ODI of ICC Trophy

Colombo, September 23: Fast bowler Shane Bond grabbed four wickets in a sensational spell as New Zealand dismissed Bangladesh for their second-lowest total of 77 to post a 167-run win in an inconsequential match of the Champions Trophy tournament here on Monday.

The 27-year-old Canterbury paceman (4-21) needed just five hostile overs to run through the fragile Bangladeshi top-order batting to bowl his team to a consolation victory.

Defending champions New Zealand were already out of contention after losing their opening match to Australia, who qualified for the semi-finals with two victories in a three-team group.

South Africa, Sri Lanka and India are the other teams in the penultimate round.

New Zealand, helped by Matthew Sinclair's 70, had posted 244-9 before bundling Bangladesh out in just 19.3 overs on a slow wicket.

Bangladesh's lowest-ever total of 76 in one-day internationals also came at this venue, against Sri Lanka last month.

Seamers Jacob Oram (2-32) and Kyle Mills (2-13) and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori (2-10) also struck it rich as Bangladesh suffered their 52nd defeat in 55 one-dayers.

They have beaten Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup in England for their only win against a Test-playing nation.

The New Zealand pacemen were brilliantly backed by slip fielders as Nathan Astle and Stephen Fleming took two catches each off error-prone Bangladeshi batsmen. As many as seven batsmen were caught behind the stumps.

Astle took the catch of the match when he jumped in the air to pluck the ball with the right hand at second slip to account for opener Javed Omar. He then held a low diving catch to his left to dismiss Tushar Imran.

Imran was the top-scorer with 20 in a dismal Bangladeshi batting display, hitting four boundaries in his 16-ball knock.

Mohammad Rafique (17), Khaled Mahmmud (11) and Manjural Islam (10) were the others to reach double-figures.

Earlier, Sinclair slammed a solid half-century to help New Zealand reach a decent total after his team had been put in to bat.

Skipper Fleming (31), Scott Styris (26) and Chris Harris (26) all failed to capitalise on good starts against tidy Bangladeshi bowling.

Leg-spinner Mohammad Ashraful was the most successful bowler with 3-26 off five overs, while seamers Islam and Mahmud shared four wickets.

Sinclair applied himself well and picked the right deliveries to punish, hitting five fours in his 122-ball knock.

New Zealand made a poor start when they lost Astle (five) in the third over, caught at point by Alok Kapali off left-arm seamer Islam.

Sinclair then steadied the innings with a 66-run stand for the second wicket with Fleming, who contributed a 40-ball 31 with five fours before pulling Mahmud straight to debutant Talha Jubair.

Sinclair held the innings together with his solid batting, relying more on singles and twos to keep the scoreboard moving.

He fell in the 45th trying to step up the run-rate, lofting Ashraful to be caught by Rafique in the deep.