New Zealand beat Bangladesh by 59 runs

PALLEKELE:New Zealand beat Bangladesh by 59 runs in their group D match at the World Twenty20 in Pallekele on Friday.

Brendon McCullum registered the highest individual Twenty20 scored of 123 to lead New Zealand to an emphatic 191-3 in 20 overs before bangladesh were restricted to 132-8 in their allotted overs.

Set a daunting task by New Zealand of overcoming a big first innings total of 192, Bangladesh could only mange 132 in their 20 overs for the loss of 8 wkts.

The only resistance for Bangladesh came from Nasir Hussain who scored a fighting half-century from 39 balls with the help 6 fours and a maximum. The only other notable contribution came from Mohammad Ashraful who scored 21 of the same number of balls.

The kiwi opening attack bowled some good lines to keep Bangladesh batsmen in check making regular breakthroughs. K.D.Mills took 3-33 and TG.Southee took 3-16 ably supported by NL McCullum 1-15.

Former champions Pakistan are the third team in the group, from where the top two will advance to the Super Eights round.