Cricket: sensational Glenn Phillips leads Black Caps to seventh summer series win with T20 win against Bangladesh

On another night, all that would be talked about would be Glenn Phillips’ full Energizer Bunny performance.

This was not another night.

In Realms of Strange, starting a chase without the audience or players knowing what the goal is is not up to the mark of a huge ship that gets stuck in a canal and stops the world of commerce, but it was pretty weird.

In a world ruled by algorithms, McLean Park saw desperately old-school scenes as middle-aged men huddled around laptops more than once after the Bangladesh persecution began.

Match referee Jeff Crowe, after furious pleas from the affable Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo, finally told the referees to stop play.

It is understood that Bangladesh started the chase thinking that it needed a revised total of 148 out of 16 overs; a number that made no sense given that New Zealand had scored 173-5 to 17.5. Spreadsheets available online to fans suggested that the target should have been 171.

This terrain is a magnet for ridiculous stoppages – “the bright sun stops the game” has been a refrain in the past – but this took the cookie.

After a 10 minute delay that had to account for Bangladesh’s 12-0 save after 1.3 overs, a goal of 170 was set.

Visitors had every right to be upset, especially since they were forced to play in the rain a little more than they felt beautiful, as the rain made its traditional visit to sunny Napier to interrupt cricket.

When normal service returned, normal service resumed.

New Zealand won by 28 runs and the visitors were 142-7. The victory secured an unprecedented seventh series of the season and brought their streak to 31 in all formats against Bangladesh at home.

They did it behind the back of Phillips, who still plays like the boy who wakes up on a Saturday morning and cries if he opens the curtain and sees that it is raining. His unbeaten 58 was dynamic, his 1-20 in three overs less expected but equally important.

In fairness to Bangladesh, they were better than they have been on the entire tour, but even against a New Zealand team devoid of many of their “stars,” they came up short despite a fiery 51-to-27 tackle of Soumya Sarkar.

Adam Milne (2-34) came back and was quick, if costly. The prospect of him bowling alongside Lockie Ferguson remains a tantalizing prospect, as the latter was rested.

Auckland in the season finale, maybe?

Captain Tim Southee (2-21) was also excellent and a bit grumpy. He had to be a bit angry as his side briefly lost the plot on the field, but the smile had returned in the end.

With Phillips in his prime and Daryl Mitchell (34 out) continuing his brilliant summer with the bat, the Black Caps always seemed to have enough, even if greasy conditions made life with the ball difficult.

New Zealand’s was a halted entry and not just because of the rain delay that started in the 13th.

Every time they seemed ready to hit “go” mode, they missed a wicket. Finn Allen (17), Martin Guptill (21), Devon Conway (15) and Will Young (14) looked ready before losing their grounds, meaning it was 20 overs of sparks instead of the usual pyrotechnics.

It will be a lot of fun watching Allen “learn” to play international cricket.

His 10-ball run included a six that came out of the park and two other balls that threatened the gods but stayed on the field of play. One was bombed, another was captured. There is no conventional statistic for this, but it feels safe to say that he became the first New Zealander to double catch the first ball in his first game before going off the mark with a reverse sweep of four in his second.

Guptill continued his recent streak of starting and going to balls that he will feel like he should have punished. You have every right to feel aggrieved here. Based on the evidence from this tour, Bangladesh would have a hard time catching a cold in a Christchurch winter, but out of nowhere Taskin Ahmed pulled the left leg of the short, thin leg out and let out a cry.

From a position of great comfort at 55-1, New Zealand was suddenly 55-3 when Conway edged out impressive Shoriful Islam.

Phillips and Young righted the ship before the former took over in partnership with Mitchell.