Twitter Reactions: Latham, Munro shine as New Zealand take 1-0 lead

New Zealand began the 3-match ODI series against Bangladesh in a terrific fashion by winning the opening encounter at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch by 77 runs. Kane Williamson won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Martin Guptill and Tom Latham made a brisk start but Guptill fell soon to Mustafizur Rahman’s well disguised off-cutter to leave the hosts at 31/1. Captain Williamson joined Latham in the middle and shared a 48-run partnership before nicking a full-length delivery from Taskin Ahmed to Rahim.

Neil Broom and Jimmy Neesham were quick to follow in the dressing room leaving the hosts took matters in their own hand and started scoring at a brisk pace. All the bowlers were taken to the cleaners towards the end of the innings as both Munro and Latham went on the rampage. Both the left-handers struck some delightful strokes and the made the visiting bowlers toil very hard. Even the Emerging player of the year Mustafizur conceded 62 runs in his allotted 10 overs. Despite picking two wickets, the supremely talented fast bowlers looked off colour.

Munro went hammers and tongs during the death overs and struck 8 four and four gigantic sixes during his whirlwind innings of 87 of a mere 61 balls. His innings was instrumental in giving the hosts the much-needed impetus during the end of the innings. Munro was dismissed in the 47th over of Shakib Al Hasan but not before he and Latham had taken New Zealand past 315. Latham rode his luck to score a beautifully paced century and smacked 7 fours and four sixes during his stupendous innings of 137 in 121 balls.

Chasing a mammoth 341 to win Bangladesh lost their opening four wickets before reaching 100 and the chase looked uphill from there. Opener Tamim Iqbal chipped in with a fluent 39 but gave away his wicket when it mattered the most. The lower order batsmen played really well and kept the visitors in the hunt till the 41st over but with the fall of Mashrafe Mortaza’s wicket it was the end of the road for the Bangla Tigers.

Shakib Al Hasan scored a quickfire 54 balls 59 while Mosaddek Hossain chipped in with 50 of 44 balls. He struck 5 fours and 3 sixes during his brisk innings. The visitors were eventually bowled out for 264 in 45 overs handing the Kiwis a comprehensive victory by 77 runs. Lockie Ferguson and Jimmy Neesham were the wreckers in chief for New Zealand and both finished with 3 wickets each.

The Twitteratti was quite active throughout the day’s play and there were certain tweets which described the proceedings in the best possible way. Here are some of the best tweets:

Congratulations to New Zealand captain Kane Williamson on reaching 4,000 ODI runs! #NZvBan pic.twitter.com/jqAi5G3p3C

— ICC (@ICC) December 25, 2016

Most wickets after 10 ODI games:
29 M McClenaghan (NZ)
28 O Gibson (WI) / Mustafizur Rahman (Ban)
25 A Mendis (SL) / R Harris (Aus)#NZvBan

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) December 26, 2016

Hometown ? ! Tom Latham sends one onto the bank to bring up his 100. 2nd ODI century and first at his home ground Hagley Oval. #NZvBAN ^BM pic.twitter.com/8zrBtA2zNq

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) December 26, 2016

Fewest innings to reach 4000 runs in ODIs:
81 H Amla,
88 Viv Richards,
93 Kohli,
96 G Greenidge,
96 Kane Williamson.#NZvBAN #CricketStats

— Shahzad Tirmizi Syed (@shahzadtirmizi) December 26, 2016

Bangladesh bowlers tried too hard & the batters still have to adapt the bounce of the pitch. All the best for next match. #NZvBAN

— Debashis Ray (@rayenlightens) December 26, 2016

Victory!!! @BLACKCAPS win the first home ODI of the summer! #NZvBAN pic.twitter.com/XouX82mlqK

— The ACC (@TheACCnz) December 26, 2016

Bangladesh batsman @mushfiqur15 had to retire hurt after a hamstring pull. He was on 42 runs from 48 balls at that moment. #BANvNZ pic.twitter.com/7VtH0YgTQR

— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) December 26, 2016