NZA vs Bangladesh A: Official Recap of an Unofficial Test
If you only read about one final-session triple-wicket maiden all year, make it this one.
Let me tell you about the best game of cricket played last week. It provided the oldest of cricketing cliches: something for everyone. Want a low-scoring thriller? You got it. Want all four results to still be in play on the final session of the final day? Happy to oblige. Want a four and a six to be hit off the first two balls of the fourth innings? Stay tuned. Want to see five-fors from quicks and spinners? You will! Want to see a better than a run-a-ball hundred? Deal. Want a 200-ball hundred? Also, deal. Want a desperate 57* (167) trying to rescue a draw? Absolutely. Want a triple-wicket maiden from a young leg spinner to seal the game? No worries! Want a dramatic finish, with weather and bad light looming? Your wish is my command.
If this match had been an Ashes decider, odes would have been penned in its honour; wars fought, cities razed. But it wasn’t. This was the first unofficial Test between New Zealand A (NZA) and Bangladesh A, so allow me to recount it instead.
Day One
At the toss, Bangladesh A elected to field—an obvious decision, given the start of the match was delayed by drizzle. We lost most of the first session, with just 64 overs bowled on day one. NZA left Heaphy, Phillips, Foulkes, and Lister out of the playing XI. Like the opening List A game, it left an oddly-balanced bowling attack: Lennox, Ashok, and Clarke are the only out-and-out ‘specialists’, and Foxcroft, Abbas, and Clarkson offer part-time overs.
That left captain Joe Carter, who averages 45 in seven appearances for NZA, to partner Rhys Mariu at the top of the order. The pair got off to a steady start, making it to 0/25 off seven overs before rain forced the sides back off. Once the weather abated, the NZA openers continued on to 36 in 11 overs, before Carter was bowled through the gate for 17 trying to defend to a peach from Khaled Ahmed, who was unplayable at times, claiming 6/59. Mariu fell two overs later on the same score, also bowled trying to drive Anamul Haque on the up to a ball that jagged back. Mariu didn’t do a lot wrong; he had to play the ball in the V, but a forward defence, rather than a drive, would have been more appropriate. While Mariu’s innings of 13 (39) was ultimately nothing special, he showed the ability to survive the new ball against three Test-standard bowlers in Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, and Hasan Murad, while also mentally switching on and off on either side of the rain break. Having done the hard work to survive the first hour, Mariu will be disappointed not to kick on, but it’s another tick in the right column on what seems to be an inevitable march to Test cricket. As in the List A games, Mariu was strong on the sweep, scoring both his boundaries to sweeps—one conventional, one reverse.
After the openers departed, it was a case of the middle order getting starts, then getting out. Kelly added 20, to go with 14 for Boyle, and 16 for Clarkson, meaning five of NZA's top six were dismissed between 13 and 20. Muhammad Abbas was the exception, dismissed for 5 (14). After hyping him up, it just hasn’t happened for Abbas on this tour, with scores of 0, 19, 5, 2. Both of his dismissals in this match were poor, borderline lazy, for a batter of his talent. In the first innings, Abbas was caught behind chasing a wide one on a ninth stump line, which he should have left safely through to the keeper. Think Virat Kohli at his worst outside off, and you’re halfway to Abbas’ dismissal. His second innings dismissal was even worse, as he danced down the track to Murad, who was on his way to a five-for, and missed the ball by a mile to be comfortably stumped. There are better things to come for Abbas, but this has been a forgettable tour for him so far.
That middle-order collapse left NZA reeling at 6/101 when Mitchell Hay and Dean Foxcroft came together. Hay dug in, facing more than twice as many balls as any other NZA batter (134, with Foxcroft’s 56 being the next-most) to top-score with a vital, mature 81. I speculated in my series preview that Hay was in line to replace Tom Blundell in the New Zealand Test side proper, and he did his chances no harm with this innings, plus six dismissals with the gloves. Hay was dominant through the covers and mid-off, scoring nearly half of his runs through these regions, including five of his eight boundaries and his only six.
At the other end, Foxcroft continued to make every post a winner, scoring a breezy, counter-attacking 47 (56). Unlike Hay, Foxcroft didn’t favour a particular region, showcasing a full, 360-degree wagon wheel with boundaries around the ground. Foxcroft has been NZA’s form batter on this tour, making contributions with the bat in every game, plus bowling handy overs. He has put his name in the frame for higher honours, with the issue being that he faces stiff competition from Santner, Bracewell, Phillips et al, who fill similar archetypes, batting between 6-8 in the white ball sides and offering spin overs. Khaled broke their partnership for 98, bowling Foxcroft to leave NZA 7/199. Adi Ashok came and went swiftly, with NZA 8/226 at the close of play on day one and Mitch Hay 68*. The partnership between Foxcroft and Hay rescued the innings from capitulation, but Bangladesh A would have felt like they were slightly on top, with 280 probably being par, in hindsight.
Day Two
The following morning, Kristian Clarke reiterated his lower-order batting talent, contributing 28 to be the innings’ third top-scorer. Hay tried to nudge his way to a hundred with the tail at the other end, but was ultimately trapped LBW on 81 to a ripper from Khaled. Throughout the 44-run partnership, Hay showed good aptitude for batting with the tail, knowing when to trust his partner, when to farm the strike, and when to come down and offer advice, which is a crucial but overlooked skill for a would-be international wicketkeeper-batter. With Hay dismissed, NZA were all out for 256.
In reply, Bangladesh A got off to a fast start, taking two boundaries apiece off Clarke and Abbas’ opening overs. Abbas, in particular, was expensive and struggled to control the new ball, delivering just eight overs and taking 1/42. Clarke was also costly, although he did nab three wickets, getting the ball rolling by dismissing Anamul caught behind to a ball that bounced steeply. Aside from that, Clarke struggled with his front foot, delivering five no-balls for the match, while also going at a 4.75 economy rate overall, returning figures of 27 overs, 4/128 across both innings. I said it during the List A series and will repeat myself: if Clarke doesn’t have the new ball, he doesn’t look threatening, and even that is no guarantee. Clarke’s other wickets were to dismiss Nurul, already on 107, with a flick to fine leg that would have gone for six except for a fantastic Clarkson catch, and a feather down the legside to dismiss Khaled.
It was Clarkson, of all people, who made me eat my words and proved the most threatening bowler, taking 4/44. After the second List A game, where Clarkson conceded 0/76, I wrote: “If you haven’t seen Clarkson bowl, think Daryl Mitchell. Think Scott Styris. Think Craig McMillan. Nice to have as a bonus if you’re desperate, but no more.” I thought I was safe, with Clarkson’s mediocre first-class average of 35 in my corner. Sorry, Josh, I’ll never doubt you again. To be fair, the Bangladeshi batters were more than happy to hand him their wickets, with one coming from a top edge, another from a lazy drive to a wide delivery, and the worst of all, Ankon’s dismissal, being lobbed to point like catching practice. Clarkson will take them, however they come.
If anything, Clarkson’s greatest highlight came in the field, when he took an athletic low catch at fine leg the over after his second wicket to dismiss Amite off an Abbas bouncer. That brought the skipper Nurul Hasan to the crease at 4/81, who continued his brutal (if occasionally odd) form from the List A series, where he scored a match-winning 112 in the second game. Nurul showed intent from the get-go, starting as he meant to continue on his way to a counter-attacking 107 (88). He hit his eighth, ninth, and tenth balls for six, four, and six off Clarke, then never looked back.
It was a partnership of contrasts, as he received support from Ankon at the other end, who faced nearly as many balls (79 vs 88) but scored fewer than a quarter as many runs, crawling to 25 (79) as part of a 132-run stand. Clarkson broke the partnership, with Ankon spooning the softest of catches to point, then Nurul departed five balls later, 4/213 quickly becoming 6/216. That slipped further to 7/222 when Clarkson took his fourth wicket, dismissing Khaled for an eight-ball duck.
In between, Lennox was by far the most accurate and controlled NZA bowler, doing his best impression of Vettori, Santner, other left-arm miser’s. Lennox delivered 17.3 overs and conceded just 39 runs at an economy of 2.2; particularly impressive given three of the five bowlers NZA used went at economies of 4.5 or worse. Adi Ashok was among those, struggling in the first innings as he delivered 10 overs, 1/55. Tantalisingly, that wicket was secured with a perfect wrong’un, pitching just outside off and turning back to trap Nayeem Hasan on the crease for 20.
Three overs later, Bangladesh A finished day two 8/249, seven runs behind NZA’s first innings total.
Day Three
Day three began with the Bangladesh A tail dragging things out to secure a 12-run lead. Murad scored a glacial 15* (57) and Ebadot added 12 (28), before Clarke and Lennox ended the innings with a wicket apiece, with Mitch Hay claiming the final two catches. Bangladesh A were all out for 268.
NZA lost an early wicket in reply before they broke even, with Mariu departing to a gem on 1/10. Mariu did very little wrong, with Khaled pitching the ball on a testing line and length and nipping it away slightly to get an edge to the slips. Mariu will get plenty of those unplayable balls over his opening career; that’s just cricket.
From there, NZA’s two experienced heads, Carter and Kelly, put on a match-defining 100-run stand. Well, depending on how you count it. Carter was gritty and watchful, with his 58 coming off 138 balls. He waited for the bowlers to drop short before cashing in, with his five boundaries coming square on either side of the wicket, and his one six coming over long off.
On the other hand, Kelly got off to a brisk start on his way to a well-deserved 122 (208), scoring three boundaries in his first six balls. To underscore its quality, in almost any other game, this innings would have earned Kelly MOTM. The pair batted largely untroubled, until Carter was temporarily forced to retire hurt for 37*. It wasn’t entirely clear to me why Carter retired, having faced the last five balls of Murad’s over untroubled and not suffered an obvious external blow. With the commentary in Bengali, I never got to the bottom of that, so if anyone does know, please share.
Whatever the reason, Carter’s departure prompted a mini-collapse for NZA, with Abbas (2), Boyle (2), and Clarkson (5) all dismissed by Murad over the next 10 overs. As covered, Abbas came dancing down the wicket and was stumped, while Boyle’s dismissal was ugly too, his bat coming down on a strange angle as he lost his off stump, leaving NZA 4/137. That’s the second time this tour that Boyle has been dismissed and I’ve been unsure what shot he was playing (a cover drive, I think?) due to his bat coming down on an awkward angle. The best I can describe it is he plays around the ball with his bat face slightly closed off, and will want to iron out this technical deficiency as he develops.
Clarkson’s departure saw Carter return to the crease, and he and Kelly resumed exactly where they left off to add another 53 runs, with Carter’s 50 and Kelly’s hundred coming up along the way. It was Kelly’s tenth first-class ton and almost certainly his finest, coming in the third innings, on the third day, away from home, on a spin-friendly pitch where 17/20 second innings wickets fell to tweakers, with his team conceding a first innings lead, and only four other NZA batters reaching double digits, scoring more than twice as many runs as the next top-scorer. While I mentioned in my preview article that I thought Kelly would struggle to find a spot in the NZ Test side, given his age and the competition for batting spots, he’s making a strong case. Over the past two first-class seasons, including both Plunket Shield and NZA appearances, Kelly has scored 1,642 runs at 50.7 from 18 matches, scoring six of his 10 hundreds in this time, plus five fifties. Kelly previously played for NZA against Australia A in 2023, contributing 43 in the opening “Test” victory, before top-scoring with 64 in the first innings of the second match.
When Carter departed to Nayeem Hasan—for real, this time—Hay and Kelly forged a brief, 35-run partnership, which straddled the end of day three and the beginning of day four. This included the shot of the match shortly before bad light stopped play on day three, as Kelly blazed an incredible six over backward point off Ebadot, almost Jayasuria-esque in its flair and execution. At the end of the day, NZA were 6/216, 204 runs ahead, with Kelly 117* and Hay 11*.
Day Four
When Nayeem Hasan finally bowled Kelly, who just missed a straight one, early on day four, the tail followed relatively promptly. Hay was trapped LBW to Murad five balls later, then Clarke was bowled the next over. Foxcroft again impressed, eeking out a further 21 runs, before he was dismissed slogging against Murad, instead skying one to the keeper. Murad secured 5/61, with NZA all out for 257, one run better than their first innings effort. The equation was set: Bangladesh A required 246 for victory, with the better part of a day to score them.
Bangladesh A made their intentions clear as Anamul hit a four and a six off the first two balls of the final innings, adding another boundary off the fourth: they wanted to chase this down, not survive for a draw. Clarkson had other ideas, as his first-innings four-for earned him a promotion to use the new ball. He made the most of it, getting Anamul caught behind for an electric, short-lived 16 (8). Caught behind is probably too kind of a description; it was a short and wide ball, so wide that Anamul could only manage a toe-end through to Hay. Never forget the first cricketing commandment: shit getteth wickets.
Despite the wicket, the Bangladesh A batters continued targeting Clarke, hitting another six off his second over. He got the last laugh, getting Joy to feather one behind to Hay, having floated up a full tempter outside off and gotten it to swing just enough. The NZA bowlers then clamped on the breaks, culminating in a wicket maiden from Jayden Lennox in his first over. Lennox gave Amite nothing before trapping him on the crease LBW with the final ball of the over. That left Bangladesh A 3/46 at lunch, with all four results still theoretically in play.
The middle session proved more fruitful for Bangladesh A, though they appeared to abandon hopes of winning the match at lunch in pursuit of a draw. Zakir Hasan brought up his 50 not long after the break, off 82 balls, finding good support from Ankon at the other end. The pair batted safely to drinks, with Ankon planting his stall on 11* (43).
Two overs after drinks, Adi Ashok decided to show up and break the game wide open. For the guy who was ultimately, justifiably, named MOTM, Ashok sure left his run late. To this point in the match, halfway through the middle session on the final day, Ashok had been quiet, if not outright poor: picking up just one wicket at a 5.5 economy in the first innings, and contributing just seven runs with the bat. He saved his best for last, coming alive in the final season, starting with Zakir’s dismissal, caught at short cover to a relatively tame push.
That brought Nurul to the crease, who continued his excellent form, seeing Bangladesh safely through tea at 4/131, with Ankon 31* (95) and Nurul 23* (32). Bangladesh A needed 115 runs in a session, and NZA needed six more wickets.
Except: disaster. The rain from day one returned at the most inopportune time, threatening to transform a thrilling finish into a damp squib. The delay lasted about 75 minutes, and for a while, bereft of any updates, it seemed inevitable the captains would shake hands and agree to a draw.
Thank god they didn’t, as the rain relented and the game resumed. There was now even more of a time crunch, though. Bad light had ended the previous day, and with the clouds sticking around, it loomed as a threat here, too. In theory, days of play were meant to conclude at 5 pm local time, though day one had been extended until 6 pm. Here we were resuming play at 4:15 pm.
Back on the field, the Bangladesh A batters picked up where they left off, bringing up the 50-run partnership off 116 balls, seven overs after the resumption. That was as far as the partnership advanced, though, as Lennox trapped Nurul LBW the following ball, gone for 27 (52). From the snippets I could understand, the Bangladeshi commentators thought it was missing the leg stump, but it looked like a marginal decision to me. I’d wager that if DRS were employed, the decision would have been upheld as Umpire’s Call on review, clipping at least part of the leg stump. Six balls later, Nayeem Hasan followed, caught by captain Carter off Ashok, again nudging meekly to short cover.
Still, the remaining Bangladesh A batters dug in. Murad joined Ankon, and they remained together until drinks, when the umpires officially signalled the start of the final hour at 5:13, already 13 minutes after the day was originally scheduled to conclude. Ankon 53* (151), Murad 7* (33).
Then, all of a sudden: Adi Ashok. Dot, wicket, dot, wicket, wicket, dot. So went the decisive 63rd over. From nowhere, the precocious 22-year-old leggie delivered a triple-wicket maiden in the fading light to steal the game. Ankon, helpless to get on strike, could only watch his hard work fade away from the other end as Murad, Anamul, and Ebadot all fell to Ashok. Bangladesh A began the over 6/170, odds on to escape with a draw, and ended it 9/170, teetering on the brink of defeat. Ashok had gone from having a quiet game to being the match-winning hero, with figures of 5/54. I could describe the wickets, try to recapture the magic, but would only end up with a hollow reproduction. This is one of those moments that had to be felt to be believed. You can watch Ashok’s over in full here.
Ankon tried his best to salvage something, to farm the strike, allowing Khaled to face just two of the next 12 balls, but when Khaled found himself on strike to start the 66th over, it took Lennox just two balls to get him caught by Mariu at slip, securing victory for NZA by 70 runs, and probably about 20 minutes, with the light fading.
Ashok was named MOTM for his final session heroics, but it was a true team effort: Kelly would have deserved it just as much for his second-innings 122, with Hay, Foxcroft, Carter, Lennox, and Clarkson all making telling contributions, too. Even Clarke, who was expensive, contributed four wickets and an important first-innings 28. Only Abbas, Mariu, and Boyle failed twice with the bat, though even Abbas got a first-innings wicket with an accurate bouncer, and Mariu pouched a couple of sharp slip catches.
Accordingly, there are a ton of positives to take from this game, with Hay and Ashok in particular edging themselves ever-closer to Test debuts, which feel like more of a question of ‘when’ than ‘if’. With two wins on the board, it has already been a more successful tour than I would have predicted, so let’s hope they can keep the momentum going when the final match starts this Saturday!