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Bangladesh relief as Latham falls for 177

Tom Latham fell 33 short of a maiden double century in Test cricket, one of three three wickets that Bangladesh took on the fourth morning to keep their hopes alive of coming out of Wellington with some success. The visitors retained a lead of 193 and need four more wickets to bowl New Zealand out, but they were hoping against hope for the Basin Reserve pitch to start breaking up. Latham fell with about five minutes to lunch. By then he had helped his team avoid the follow-on. He was in the middle for 329 balls. Since his first-class debut in 2010, only twice had he and the batting crease spent more time together. In 2013, he lasted 423 balls for an unbeaten 241 and in 2014 when a 383-ball investment gave him 261 runs. So it was understandable that were a couple of moments when fatigue set in. Kamrul Islam Rabbi induced a drive away from the body in the 95th over with a fuller delivery angled across him - a weakness he has always battled against, and one Bangladesh didn`t exploit enough yesterday - but Mehedi Hasan at second slip was unable to hold on to a seriously difficult catch. The fielder took off to his left and was essentially horizontal with the ground, with one hand out in search of the ball but it wouldn`t stick. Two overs later, Latham went back to flick a delivery on leg stump from Shakib Al Hasan but didn`t quite do all he could have to keep it down. The ball only just fell short of Soumya Sarkar, substituting for the injured Mushfiqur Rahim, at short midwicket. Latham was dismissed attempting a shot that contributes a lot to him being an all-conditions batsman - the sweep.He misjudged the line as Shakib tossed the ball up on middle and off. There was no room to work with, and it was a tad too full as well, sneaking under his bat to hit his front pad in front of middle stump. His 177 made it to the top 10 scores by an opener in New Zealand and he walked off to warm applause from the Sunday crowd, who at one point might have been wondering if play would begin on time. Steady rain was forecast and it remained quite overcast, heavily misty even. But the umpires thought conditions were still good enough to start play on time at 10.30 am. That had to be pushed back by three minutes considering the New Zealand team was only just getting to the ground. Henry Nicholls secured his third Test fifty, preferring to stay back and use the extra time to help his shot selection. He had trouble facing Mehedi Hasan last evening, often lunging at the ball and playing for non-existent spin, but he had to deal with the offspinner for only two overs this morning with Bangladesh taking the new ball. The pitch was true, its healthy grass cover ensuring that it held together impressively even on the fourth day and Nicholls, who has been persisted with despite averaging less than 30, had the opportunity to repay the selectors with a big score. But he fell for 53, tickling a drifter from Shakib heading down leg stump to a gleeful Mehedi at leg gully. It was like catching practice. Colin de Grandhomme hammered a four and six and then inside edged Subashis Roy to stand-in wicketkeeper Imrul Kayes to give the debutant his first Test wicket. Source: ESPNcricinfo