DHAKA, Oct 29: Bangladesh fought hard to stave off an embarrassing defeat against quality New Zealand bowling before the second Test finally petered out into a draw on the final day here on Wednesday.

New Zealand clinched the two-match series 1-0 after they won the first Test at Chittagong by three wickets and they pushed hard to pull off a highly unlikely win here after the first three days were washed out.

The home team was facing a possible follow-on and with it potential defeat at 44-6 before crucial knocks by all-rounders Shakib Al Hasan (49) and Mashrafe Mortaza (48) helped them avoid the ignominy of batting for a second time.

With little to play for, the tourists batted a second time and reached 79-1 before the captains decided to call off the match. Jesse Ryder followed his 91 in the first innings with an unbeaten 39 while Aaron Redmond made 30 not out.

Opener Jamie How was dismissed for eight.

Earlier, Shakib and Mashrafe put on a fighting 78-run stand for the seventh wicket which enabled Bangladesh to declare their first innings at 169-9, six more than required to avoid the follow-on.

Because the match became a two-day game after the first three days were lost to rain, Bangladesh had to get to within 100 runs of New Zealand’s first innings total of 262-6 declared to avoid the follow-on.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said he was happy with the series win.

“We probably would have won 2-0 but time was short. I am still pleased with the team effort which clinched us the series,” said Vettori, who in the first Test took nine wickets and scored a fifty in each innings.

“We had harboured hopes after we took three quick wickets in the morning but time ran out.”

Resuming at 13-3, the home side lost Mehrab Hossain Jr (7) when off-spinner Jeetan Patel turned one sharply into him, trapping him in front of the stumps.

Opener Tamim Iqbal, who saw three wickets fall in one Vettori over on Tuesday, took the score to 44 in the company of Mushfiqur Rahim before both fell in successive overs.

Vettori had Tamim (24) caught off a miscued drive while Mushfiqur gloved a short delivery from paceman Iain O’Brien to wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum after scoring seven.

Mashrafe and Shakib took Bangladesh past their lowest Test score of 62 made against Sri Lanka at Colombo last year before Vettori ended Shakib’s resistance by trapping him leg-before.

Vettori was the pick of the visitors’ bowling with 5-66, finishing with 14 wickets in two Tests. O’Brien took 3-31.

Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful said he hoped his team would improve.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 262-6

declared (J.D. Ryder 91, B.B. McCullum 66).

BANGLADESH (1st Innings, overnight

13-3):

Tamim Iqbal c Taylor b Vettori 24

Junaed Siddique st McCullum b Vettori 4

Mohammad Ashraful lbw b Vettori 0

Rajin Saleh lbw b Vettori 0

Mehrab Hossain Jr lbw b Patel 7

Mushfiqur Rahim c McCullum b O’Brien 7

Shakib Al Hasan lbw b Vettori 49

Mashrafe Mortaza c Flynn b O’Brien 48

Abdur Razzak not out 16

Shahadat Hossain c Vettori b O’Brien 4

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-6, NB-2) 10

TOTAL (for nine decl, 58.1 overs) 169

FALL OF WKTS: 1-13, 2-13, 3-13, 4-26, 5-44, 6-44, 7-122, 8-155, 9-169.

DID NOT BAT: Mahbubul Alam.

BOWLING: Mills 9-4-22-0 (2nb); O’Brien 13.1-3-31-3 (6w); Patel 15-6-45-1; Vettori 19-6-66-5; Redmond 2-0-3-0.

NEW ZEALAND (2nd Innings):

J.M. How c Razzak b Mashrafe 8

A.J. Redmond not out 30

J.D. Ryder not out 39

EXTRAS (B-1, NB-1) 2

TOTAL (for one wkt, 31 overs) 79

FALL OF WKT: 1-8.

BOWLING: Mashrafe Mortaza 5-1-14-1; Mahbubul Alam 3-1-12-0; Razzak 7-1-12-0, Hasan 2-0-2-0, Hossain 6-0-20-0 (1nb); Junaed Siddique 2-0-2-0; Mohammad Ashraful 1-0-4-0; Mehrab Hossain Jr 4-0-11-0; Tamim Iqbal 1-0-1-0.

RESULT: Match drawn, New Zealand win series 1-0.

UMPIRES: D.J. Harper (Australia) and E.A.R. de Silva (Sri Lanka).

TV UMPIRE: A.F.M. Akhtaruddin (BD).

MATCH REFEREE: J. Srinath (India).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Daniel Vettori.

MAN-OF-THE-SERIES: Daniel Vettori.

—AFP