Top-class bowling from West Indies on dramatic first day
Padma Bridge Friendship Test Series, presented by Walton
1st Test Match: West Indies vs. Bangladesh
Venue: Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Stadium
Toss: West Indies won and bowled
Scorecard: https://www.windiescricket.com/matches/211919/#scorecard
West Indies produced a stellar exhibition of seam bowling to dismiss Bangladesh cheaply, and then made purposeful reply with the bat as they dominated the opening day on Thursday. Taking advantage of a helpful surface after choosing to bowl first West Indies sent the visitors tumbling for 103 all out, 40 minutes after lunch, before building a response of 95-2 at the close.
Skipper Kraigg Brathwaite was unbeaten on 42 off 149 balls with four fours and with him Nkrumah Bonner on 12. They have so far added 23 for the third wicket and will resume on Friday morning with the first innings lead in sight. Left-handed opener John Campbell chipped in with 24 which came off 72 balls and included a four and a towering six, while left-hander Raymon Reifer, at Number 3 in his second Test, made 11 before he edged a ‘jaffer’ from Ebadot Hussain to the keeper.
Alzarri Joseph (3-33) and Jayden Seales (3-33) had earlier finished with three wickets apiece and Kyle Mayers (2-10) and Kemar Roach (2-21) two wickets each, to wreck Bangladesh’s innings. Captain Shakib-al-Hasan counter-attacked in top-scoring with 51 off 67 balls but was one of four wickets to fall after lunch, after Bangladesh found themselves tottering at the break on 76-6.
WHAT THEY SAID “The guys adjusted well. Obviously it’s a pretty tough pitch to bowl on in terms of finding your length,” Roach said after the day’s play. “It was very slow at the beginning so obviously you wanted to be a little bit fuller. There were some grass patches there and some ridges that we tried to hit and I think we did that pretty well. Shakib played well for his 50 but I thought overall, the bowling group did a good job.” Joseph, playing on his home ground added: “In Test cricket, bowling plans don’t necessarily change, you just adjust a little for each batter. However, on this wicket, you had to be a bit fuller, because it was pretty slow. In every test series, we plan to get early wickets.”
ROACH STARTS WITH A BANG!
Roach set the tone for the morning, knocking over opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Najmul Hossain both without scoring to leave Bangladesh on 3-2 in the third over. Mahmudul pushed at the second ball of the game and was caught by Bonner diving to his right at gully and left-handed Najmul pushed forward tentatively and saw his off stumped flattened.
Seales then pressed home the advantage when he got left-hander Mominul Haque to edge to Jermaine Blackwood at second slip also without scoring. Veteran opener Tamim Iqbal resisted with 29 off 43 balls including four fours, adding 25 for the fourth wicket with Liton Das (12) to carry the innings to drinks at 41-3. Tamim perished in the first over after the resumption, as he touched a leg side catch to Joshua Da Silva off Joseph, the first of four catches for the keeper.
MAYERS STRIKES TWICE
Mayers then struck twice in his first over to account for Das and Nurul Hasan (0) and plunge the Bangladesh innings into further strife at 45-6. First, he forced Das to play down the wrong line and edge behind to Da Silva and two balls later, Nurul shouldered arms to one that came and was plumb leg-before-wicket.
With wickets tumbling, Shakib smashed six fours and a six in nearly an hour-and-a-half at the crease. Hopes of a late revival were dashed afterwards as Seales and Joseph combined to rout the tail. Seales claimed Mehidy via a leg-side catch to Da Silva in the first over after the break before also sending back Mustafizur Rahman – taken in the safe hands of the keeper.
BRING ON FRIDAY!
The match continues on Friday, with play due to start at 10am (9am Jamaica Time).
-ENDS-