Versatile Vincent puts
Kiwis in charge

An outstanding fielding performance by livewire Lou Vincent put New Zealand in charge of the second cricket Test against Bangladesh by stumps on the first day, on Wednesday, at the Basin Reserve.

Vincent, an exuberant personality who scored a century and half century on Test debut against Australia earlier this month, claimed three catches and forced a run-out to send Bangladesh crashing out for 132 in its first innings.

Vincent's feats included an acrobatic catch at gully to dismiss Bangladesh's leading scorer, Aminul Islam, for 42, and a diving stop that led to the run out - by the length of the pitch - of Sanuar Hossain.

New Zealand were 72 without loss at stumps, only 60 runs behind Bangladesh with all 10 first innings wickets intact. Mark Richardson and Matthew Horne, who formed New Zealand's third opening partnership in five Tests this season, were 38 and 30 respectively at stumps.

Vincent has energised the New Zealand team since his surprise call-up for the third Test against Australia in Perth earlier this month. He scored 104 and 54 on debut but was immediately chastened when he was out first ball in New Zealand's only innings in the first Test against Bangladesh in Hamilton.

New Zealand won that match by an innings and 52 runs and now seems poised to win the two-Test series.

Vincent, who was born in New Zealand but spent some of his early years in South Australia, remains a brashly confident player. He boldly pronounced before this match that New Zealand would quickly wrap up victory and be home in time for some cold Christmas turkey.

New Zealand won an important toss this morning and asked Bangladesh to bat first on a green wicket which promised help for the faster bowlers.

They had their first wicket, that of opener Javed Omar, before he or Bangladesh had scored and they progressively wrung the life from the visitors' innings.

Bangladesh were reduced to six runs for two wickets when Aminul, their first century-maker in Tests, came to the wicket and began to provide some resistance. He put on 43 for the third wicket with Mohammad Al Sahariar but Sahariar's dismissal for 18 shortly before lunch began a further decline.

Aminul batted through the middle of the innings, for 134 minutes, for his 42 which included only one four. Sahariar with his 18 was the next-highest individual scorer.

New Zealand fast bowler Chris Cairns remained an intimidating figure for Bangladesh, taking three wickets for 24 runs from 15 overs. He took 7 for 53 in Bangladesh's second innings in Hamilton and his last 21 overs against the tourists have returned 8 wickets while conceding 31 runs.

Bangladesh paid for an overly cautious approach, taking 64 overs to reach 132. Their total included only six boundaries but it was their inability to accumulate in singles and twos that slowed their scoring rate.

Mail Cricket Editor