Bangladesh battle back

The tourists had endured a torrid time when batting on the first day and had been dismissed for just 137 and after the hosts posted a total of 357 in their innings, it looked like a tall task for Bangladesh.

But they took four quick wickets before tea and provided a solid display on the crease before close of play on Saturday to put pressure on New Zealand to take some early wickets on the third day.

Junaid Siddique and Tamim Iqbal were leading the way for Bangladesh and, with 69 and 72 respectively, both are looking on course to post centuries.

Having resumed on 156 for four, New Zealand had dominated the opening stages of the day as Matthew Bell chipped steadily away alongside Jacob Oram to reach 107 runs, his second Test century, before he was dismissed 20 minutes before lunch lbw from Mohammad Ashraful's delivery.

Ashraful grabbed his second wicket shortly before lunch when Brendon McCullum's edge was caught at first slip by Junaid Siddique.

New Zealand were 277 for six at lunch and Oram continued to add the runs, himself passing the century mark before he was dismissed after the break when he clipped an inside edge onto his stumps.

From then on Bangladesh fought back well to restrict New Zealand to just 37 further runs. Kyle Mills was dismissed without making a run when he got a thick outside edge to Mushfiqur Rahim while Daniel Vettori (32) followed soon after when he was caught out easily at mid-on by Enamul Haque jnr.

Finally, Iain O'Brien was dismissed for five when he was caught out by Mushfiqur Rahim, but it looked liked they had given themselves a healthy enough lead with a total of 357.

But Siddique and Iqbal had other ideas as they frustrated the hosts to shift the pressure onto their opponents for Sunday.