Andy Spear at Seddon Park
Bangladesh started its innings in smashing form, looking comfortable against the New Zealand bowlers in the second day of their one-off Test at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
Before bad light ceased play after 17 overs, the tourists had reached 87-1 and never really looked too worried as they saw off the new ball and the opening Kiwi bowlers.
Openers Imrul kayes and Tamim Iqbal were solid against everything Chris Martin and Daryl Tuffey through at them and sailed through to 79-1 before a piece of Daniel Vettori brilliance claimed New Zealand's first wicket of the Test.
It was obvious that something needed to be done to halt the opening pair so captain Vettori took the initiative and struck in his first over when he found the edge of Imrul's (28) bat as the ball sailed through to Ross Taylor at first slip.
Tamim survived the next few overs before being forced to leave the pitch on 58 after the umpires stopped due to rain and bad light and the covers were brought out.
Earlier, New Zealand declared on 553 after a brilliant, record stand between Martin Guiptill and Brendon McCullum salvaged a poor start to the opening innings.
Both batsmen fell desperately short of a double-centuries but did an outstanding job in forging a New Zealand innings that will be hard to chase down.
Vettori declared on 553-7 after 125 overs and sent Bangladesh into bat, the job well-and-truly done for New Zealand thanks to a superb mid-order stand.
McCullum finally fell on 185, his highest Test score, when he was bowled by Rubel Hossian in the 125th over. McCullum faced 272 balls in his innings, smashing 17 fours and three sixes as he forged a record partnership with Martin Guptill who was still going strong down the other end.
McCullum and Guptill notched New Zealand's highest sixth-wicket Test partnership with 339 runs, surpassing Jeff Crowe and Sir Richard Hadlee's 246 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 1986/87.
Guptill trucked on until the 129th over when he tried to pull a short delivery from Rubel that sailed through to Mushfiqur Rahim at keeper to end his best Test innings on 189. Guptill faced 311 balls in his innings, hitting 18 fours and a six with a healthy strike rate of 60.96.
Daryl Tuffey and Jeetan Patel held their wickets for New Zealand through Vettori's declaration with the home side looking very comfortable on 553-7 with Tuffey hitting the ball well on 31 and Patel chiming in with 12.
Rubel has been by far the best of the tourist's bowlers, picking up a difficult five-wicket bag from his 29 overs but was fairly expensive in his quest for the Kiwi scalps, giving away 166 runs with just a single maiden.
New Zealand started the second day on 258-5 after an opening day dominated by the Bangladesh bowlers before Guptill and McCullum helped the home side find some momentum and take control of the Test match.
The pair was untroubled up until lunch on 432-5 on a pitch that was not offering the bowlers much at all although, after McCullum's wicket, Rubel was looking likely to claim a five-wicket bag.