Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan led a spirited fightback by Bangladesh in the one-off Test against New Zealand in Hamilton.

While Mahmudullah registered his maiden Test century, it was the controversial dismissal of captain Shakib that was a big talking point on day three at Seddon Park.

The Bangladesh skipper was just 13 runs shy of a maiden Test century when he was dismissed despite the ball appearing not to carry to New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum.

Surprisingly Shakib did not ask for a referral of Rob Tucker's decision and his departure ended a vital 145-run stand with Mahmudullah that helped lift their side to 408 all out in reply to New Zealand's 553 for seven declared.

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Despite his captain's dismissal in the second over after tea and that of Shahadat Hossain (13) shortly afterwards, Mahmudullah remained composed to reach three figures for the first time in Test cricket with his 14th boundary of the innings.

He was eventually trapped leg before wicket by Daniel Vettori for 115 and two overs later Bangladesh's innings came to an end when a direct hit from Vettori had Rubel Hossain run out for nought.

Play ended early again because of bad light with New Zealand having reached nine for one in their second innings, extending their lead to 154 runs.

But they lost BJ Watling (run out for one) in the process, leaving Tim McIntosh and Peter Ingram unbeaten on five and two respectively.

The first session of the day belonged to New Zealand as they ripped through the top order, taking five wickets to leave the tourists at 211 for six at lunch.

Tamim Iqbal (68), Junaid Siddique (21), Mohammad Ashraful (12), Aftab Ahmed (33) and Mushfiqur Rahim (seven) all departed with Daryl Tuffey getting two wickets and Vettori, Chris Martin and Tim Southee one apiece to leave Bangladesh in trouble.

It's all about numbers

But Shakib and Mahmudullah took to spin bowlers Vettori and Jeetan Patel in the middle session with the Bangladesh all-rounder hitting his opposite number for nine boundaries and taking another four off Patel as he moved to 82 by tea.

At the other end, Mahmudullah, who was unbeaten on 74 at the interval, was in a similarly aggressive mood as they piled on 125 runs in the session.

However, the visitors were not able to push on after tea as Martin (three for 116 off 25 overs) got the vital breakthrough early with the wickets of Shakib and Shahadat and then Vettori (three for 88 off 28.3) wrapped things up, dismissing Mahmudullah and Rubel.