Chasing a target of 251 is close to impossible for Bangladesh the way they are batting at the moment but Mohammad Rafique, who was sent in as an opener, raised a brief ray of hope with some lusty blows. However, four wickets went down for 54 runs as the Tigers lost way for the umpteenth time under lights at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. They crawled to 167 for seven with Nafees Iqbal and captain Khaled Mashud both making 40. Having already taken the Test series 2-0, New Zealand also completed a 3-0 whitewash in the ODIs with yesterday's victory.

Javed Omar had lifted the crowd with two boundaries in the first over. But the experienced opener opted for an awkward route to bring his bat down to a full-length delivery from left-arm batsman James Franklyn and was caught plumb infront in the last ball of the second over.

Rafique meanwhile went by his natural instincts and contributed 21 with four cracking boundaries before he missed the line of a ball from Kyle Mills coming round the wicket and was lbw leaving Bangladesh on 42 for two in the 13th over.

Vice-captain Rajin Saleh pushed and prodded for nothing and became the third lbw victim but television replays showed the ball from Scott Styris might have missed the leg stump.

Nafees struggled to find the gaps but then was coming into his own in the company of Mohammad Ashraful. The 19-year-old flayed left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori for a six over widish mid-wicket but the Black Caps' captain had the last laugh when he tossed one up and Nafees' mighty heave only took the ball as far as extra cover where Matthew Sinclair took a simple catch. Nafees played 87 balls.

Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed departed cheaply trying to force the pace with the run rate increasing by the ball. Once again the Bangladeshi batsmen failed to cope with Vettori's guile as he returned figures of 10-0-24-3. Barring Rafique and Nafees' efforts, the four other top order batters for Bangladesh contributed just 29 runs between them. Mashud looked the most fluent of the lot as he just eased to an unbeaten 44-ball 40 (1x6, 4x4).

Earlier, half-centuries by Matthew Sinclair and Scott Styris and some mighty hits from Chris Cairns helped New Zealand survive a middle-order scare and put on a challenging 250 for 7 after they had elected to bat first.

Sinclair, who completed back-to-back fifties after missing the first match in Chittagong, gave the Kiwis a decent start when he put on 72 runs with Nathan Astle.

Astle was uncharacteristically sedate in his 27 off 60 balls before a brilliant one-handed pick-up and throw by Alok Kapali undid him in the 19th over.

The visitors then lost three wickets in the space of six runs to stumble to 105 for four. Aftab, fresh from a five-wicket haul in the previous match, initiated the collapse. But the medium pacer was extremely lucky to get the lbw verdict against left-hander Chris Harris as the ball pitched way outside the leg stump.

Rafique got into the act and sent back Hamish Marshall and Sinclair in quick succession. Marshall spooned the ball to Rajin Saleh at cover to record a second-ball duck while Sinclair, who scored 66 off 77 balls with seven hits to the fence, mistimed an on-drive to give a return catch to the veteran the left-arm spinner.

Styris then steadied the innings by sharing a significant 86-run partnership with Craig McMillan (39 off 54 balls) for the fifth wicket. Styris' sensible 68-ball 51 had a straight six and one four.

Rafique then came back in his second spell to dismissed Styris and McMillan in successive overs. But from 207-6 at the end of the 47th over, Cairns took charge cracking three sixes and two fours as New Zealand rattled up 43 runs in the last three overs.

Rafique, who conceded only 26 runs in his first 7 overs, finished with an expensive 4-63, his career best bowling in one-dayers. He also went past Khaled Mahmud as the leading wicket-taker in ODIs for the Tigers yesterday. Rafique now has 56 wickets while Mahmud has 54.