Following his side's eight-wicket win over Bangladesh in their tri-nation series match, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said that it was a challenge to bat on the wicket fluently and that his bowlers did a great job to restrict the opposition to a low total.
A half-century from Devon Conway and tight bowling spells from the bowlers helped New Zealand clinch an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh in their tri-nation series (featuring Pakistan) match in Christchurch on Sunday.
"Bangladesh played nicely in the powerplay, we knew the wicket was a challenge to bat on fluently, but our bowlers were spot on to restrict them to a low total and then we had the partnerships going with the bat. It is a horses for courses policy for the first few matches, we will keep looking at our options going ahead," said Williamson in a post-match presentation.
"He has been with us for a long time (on Ish Sodhi), he has 100 T20I wickets - he has helped us win a lot of games with those wickets. Fielding is an important cog and we need to keep working hard on that, there is a lot of cricket coming up and it's something we pride ourselves on. A few niggles will be there as the schedule is tight going into the World Cup, so you need to be smart with your players (on Adam Milne going off the field)," he added.
With this win, New Zealand has some points on the table, with two points and one win in two matches under their belt. On the other hand, Bangladesh has lost both of their games so far and is at the bottom of the table.
Earlier, put in to bat, Bangladesh posted 137/8 in their 20 overs. Opener Najmul Hossain Shanto top scored with 33 off 29 balls. He had a 41-run stand with Litton Das that gave Bangladesh some momentum. But other than that, the game was entirely commandeered by the New Zealand bowlers.
Bracewell (2/14), Boult (2/25) starred with the ball while Southee and Sodhi also took two wickets each.
Chasing 138, the Kiwis did lose Finn Allen (16) early. But the 85-run stand between Devon Conway (70*) and Kane Williamson (30) was a match-winning one. Glenn Phillips finished unbeaten on the other end with 23*.
Bracewell's fiery spell of 2/14 in four overs clinched him the 'Man of the Match' title.
