HAMILTON – New Zealand plundered their best opening partnership in nearly half-a-century on Friday as centuries to Tom Latham and Jeet Raval put Bangladesh on the ropes on day two of the first Test in Hamilton.
Latham was not out 156, his ninth century, with Kane Williamson on 32 as New Zealand went to tea at 326 for one, a first-innings lead of 92 with nine wickets in hand.
Raval ended a record barren run by completing his maiden century and went on to 132 before he was the first wicket to fall.
Together, Latham and Raval stood in a 254-run partnership, the third highest by a New Zealand opening pair and the best since Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis's record of 387 against the West Indies 47 years ago.
TEA TIME here at Seddon Park and your centurion from the session - Tom Latham! 🇳🇿326/1 | Latham 156* | Williamson 32*
NZC LIVE CARD | https://t.co/StjmkPzcaX #NZvBAN @PhotosportNZ pic.twitter.com/XudQqTsiO5
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) March 1, 2019
For 68 overs they caressed the ball to all points of the boundary and looked extremely comfortable with Raval cracking 19 fours and a six in his marathon innings before the elusive breakthrough came for Bangladesh.
Captain Mahmudullah brought himself on for one over only and with his fifth delivery Raval skied an attempted slog-sweep to Khaled Ahmed at mid-wicket.
Raval went into his 17th Test holding the New Zealand record for the most fifties (eight) without reaching a hundred.
But he held his nerve after passing his previous best - 88 on the same ground against South Africa two years ago - and was able to raise his bat when back-to-back fours off Ebadat Hossain took him from 93 to 101.
Latham, who had been dropped without scoring, brought up his latest century with a top edge off Abu Jayed that raced to the fine leg boundary.
It is the fourth time he has passed the 150 mark and he has also reached 3,000 career Test runs in the course of his innings.