Even Stevens at the end of day 1

Due to geographical reasons, New Zealand celebrated the new year earlier than any other country. No Test match, before that, began on the first day of the new year in New Zealand. On this rare occasion, the crowd at Bay Oval got to watch a riveting day of Test cricket that had probing opening spells, great innings build-ups and late comebacks. At stumps on day one, New Zealand were 258 for five as Bangladesh clawed their way back into the match with three wickets in the evening session. 

Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque called it right at the toss and without any surprise, elected to bowl first on a pitch that looked green. Bangladesh fielded three genuine fast bowlers - Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Ebadot Hossain. 

Bangladesh got the start they were after as Taskin and Shoriful challenged both the inside edge and outside edge of the batters. Tom Latham was dismissed by Shoriful in the fourth over of the match. The left-arm pacer induced the outside edge of Latham's bat and Liton Das took a spectacular one-handed catch diving to his left. 

Bangladesh bowlers kept the runs in check in the first hour. After getting off the mark in the first over, New Zealand got their second run in the eighth over. The hosts scored just 15 off 13 overs in the first hour.

But scoring became easier as time progressed. The pitch flattened out a touch and Devon Conway and Will Young took advantage of it. Conway flicked and pulled the ball well as most of his runs came from the midwicket region and in front of square on the on side.

Young too flicked and drove the ball well. His two on-drives that went for four off Taskin were the highlights of his innings. New Zealand finished the first session at 66 for one in 27 overs.

Conway reached his fifty off 101 deliveries. The scoring rate increased in the post-lunch session. 

But Young fell right after his fifty as he opted for a quick single and Conway sent him back. The throw from Najmul Hossain Shanto was accurate and Liton did the rest. Young scored 52 off 135 balls with the help of six boundaries. 

New Zealand went into tea at 147 for two. Conway was unbeaten on 88 and Ross Taylor on four. 81 runs came from the second session with the loss of one wicket.

At the start of the evening session, Taylor was dropped by Mahmudul Hasan Joy on 14. 

Conway notched up his second Test hundred on his return to international cricket after that strange injury during the T20 World Cup. His 100th run came from the pull shot, his most productive one in the innings. 

Right after the partnership between Taylor and Conway reached fifty, the former picked out the man at cover. Taylor scored 31 with the help of five fours. Shadman Islam took a smart low catch. It was Shoriful's second scalp in the match. 

Conway was done by a rather harmless delivery from Mominul Haque which was turning down the leg-side. Conway got a faint edge and Liton took the catch. The southpaw made 112. His innings involved 16 fours and a six.

Ebadot Hossain picked up his first wicket of the match by dismissing Tom Blundell towards the end of the day. New Zealand scored 111 runs in the final session but lost three important wickets. Henry Nicholls was not out on 32. 

Shoriful Islam was by far the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh with two wickets.