Wellington, Jan 14:
A patient Tom Latham carved out his sixth century to keep New Zealand afloat as they moved closer to avoiding a follow on against a rampant Bangladesh after three days of the first Test in Wellington.
While the left-handed opener calmly went about his work at the Basin Reserve today, Bangladesh removed senior batsmen Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor after declaring early in the day at an imposing 595-8.
At stumps, New Zealand were 292-3, still 303 runs behind, with Latham on 119 and Henry Nicholls on 35.
Taylor said New Zealand needed the 24-year-old Latham in the middle with the new ball due in three overs and the follow-on mark 104 runs away.
“His job’s not done yet. We need him to go big tomorrow and obviously try and get that follow on,” Taylor said.
“Once we do get that follow on hopefully we can bat ourselves into a decent position.
“That first session’s going to be important and if we can see off that new ball, pass the follow on, then there’s a bit of (wet) weather around and still 190 overs and a lot of cricket to be played.”
As the strong northerly winds that caused havoc on day one returned in the afternoon session Saturday, Latham had taken a leaf out of the Bangladesh playbook and carefully chosen the moments to punish the bowling.(Agencies)
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