Bangladesh created an ignoble world record after going down by seven wickets against New Zealand on the last day of the first Test of their series at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on Monday. The loss was even more significant because of the events that had precipitated it: Bangladesh had scored 595/8 declared in their first innings and the loss meant they set a world record for scoring the highest first innings score in a loss.

It was a performance which Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim could hardly believe after his team had recovered from 160/4 to put up a mammoth first innings total. Rahim played a big part in that, scoring 159 and put on a partnership of 359 (Bangladesh’s highest partnership in Tests) with Shakib Al Hasan who scored 217, the highest individual score by a Bangladesh batsman.

But New Zealand kept themselves in the game with a 177 from opener Tom Latham, punctuated by contributions from the rest of the team. Mitchell Santner scored 73, but Bangladesh would have thought they had the advantage and would at least be able to draw, after bowling the Kiwis out for 539 and getting a first innings lead of 56.

Unfortunately, their familiar collapsing problem came back to haunt them. They lost their top three quickly and went into Day 5 at 66/3. They proceeded to collapse to 160 all out just after lunch, giving New Zealand a little more than a session to chase down 217. But New Zealand showed no signs of settling for the draw.

Captain Kane Williamson shook off the loss of two early wickets to stroke his way to a delightful 90-ball 104 and Ross Taylor added 60 as New Zealand shot down the target in just 39.4 overs. It was a win which came as an unexpected bonus and for Bangladesh, another end to a match which they had dominated for large portions.

Brief scores:

Bangladesh 595/8 declared (Shakib Al Hasan 217, Mushfiqur Rahim 159; Neil Wagner 4/151, Trent Boult 2/131) and 160 all out (Sabbir Rahman 50, Imrul Kayes 36; Trent Boult 3/53, Mitchell Santer 2/36) lost to New Zealand 539 all out (Tom Latham 177, Mitchell Santner 73; Kamrul Islam 3/87, Mahmudullah 2/15) and 217/3 (Kane Williamson 104 not out, Ross Taylor 60; Mehedi Hasan 2/66, Subashis Roy 1/32) by seven wickets