New Zealand Whitewash Bangladesh To Wrap Cricket World Cup 2023 Preparation
New Zealand gave themselves a perfect boost ahead of the World Cup by whitewashing Bangladesh in the three-match series 2-0, with a seven wickets win in the final one-day international in Dhaka on Tuesday. Will Young and Adam Milne starred with bat and ball respectively, with Young hitting 70 off 80 balls to guide New Zealand to 175-3. Milne's 4-34 restricted the hosts to 171 in 34.3 overs at Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. Stand-in skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto scored highest with 76 runs for Bangladesh, but was unable to give the hosts a competitive score with a lack of support from the other end after he opted to bat first.
New Zealand made light of their target despite losing Finn Allen (28) and Dean Foxcroft (0) to Shoriful Islam in consecutive balls, as Young put on 81 runs with in-form Henry Nicholls for the third wicket.
By the time left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed bowled Young, New Zealand were well in control.
Nicholls, who made 44 and 49 runs in the previous two matches, went on to complete 50 this time, with a single off Mahmudullah Riyad.
Tom Blundell (23 not out) hit a boundary to take New Zealand home, with 91 balls to spare.
Cole McConchie and Trent Boult earlier complemented Milne, who was playing his first match of the series, claiming 2-18 and 2-33 respectively to deny Bangladesh any serious momentum in the contest.
The Kiwis, who lost the previous two series in Bangladesh 4-0 in 2010 and 3-0 in 2013, won the second match by 86 runs on Saturday. The first match was washed out by rain.
"The World Cup is just around the corner -- to come up with the first win since 2008 is great," said Young, the man of the match, in a briefing afterwards.
"This group plays a lot together, we gel well and it's a lot