Windies take series from Bangladesh

Bangladesh put up gallant fight

The West Indies cricket team secured the One-Day version of the Bangladeshi clash with wins at the Arnos Vale Playing Field last Saturday and Sunday. Dubbed the “Bottom of the ladder battle”, the series was expected to provide some excitement. The West Indies’ erratic performances, capable of highs and lows, have been well documented. {{more}}
Fans were guarded as to how the squad would perform against Bangladesh. And their fears seemed to have been justified. For who could have anticipated the twists of Saturday’s match. The win was by the narrowest of margins.
Number 11, Fidel Edwards, hit the decisive run to see the West Indies pass Bangladesh’s 144 made in their 50 overs.
When Tino Best went LBW for 02, the Windies were precariously placed on 133 for 9 in the 44th over.
That underlined a miserable collapse from 119 for 4. The Windies declined into one of those inexplicable and all too familiar collapses. Sarwan holed out to a catch at deep mid-wicket by Mushfiqur Rahman off Rajin Saleh making it 119 for 5. Dwayne Smith was stumped four runs later and Ridley Jacobs and Dwayne Bravo fell by the run out route at 126.
But Bradshaw and Edwards held their nerves to produce the thrilling victory with 20 deliveries to spare.
Bangladesh recovered from 81 for 8, thanks to Mohammed Raffique, 32, and Khaled Mashud, 30.
Bradshaw, 2 for 11, from ten overs set the foundation for his Man of the Match award.
Tino Best, 4 for 35, was the most successful bowler, however.
Sunday’s encounter was equally thrilling, but the result was never in doubt. The Windies ended their 25 over allocation on 124 for 7. The match was reduced owing to heavy showers during the day.
The score represented something of a decline. Dwayne Smith, 63 not out, was the pick of the batsman. Then he sealed the Man of the Match award with two catches.
Tapash Baisya, 4 for 16 from five overs, returned the best figures for a Bangladeshi in One-Day Internationals.
Bangladesh crawled to 101 for 8 in their 25 overs. Bradshaw, 3 for 15, was the leading wicket taker, in combination with Fidel Edwards, 2 for 19, Bravo, 2 for 23, and Best, 1 for 15.
The Bangladeshi were never genuinely in the run chase with wickets falling regularly. It took a 32-run sixth stand between opener Hannan Sarkar, 36, and number six batsman Manjural Islam Rana, 33 not out, to stage a virtual recovery, 39 for 5. But the overs always seemed to be running out on Bangladesh and they fell short by 23 runs.
They came in for praises from West Indies captain Sarwan who commended their improving qualities.
“I thought they played well. They keep improving and that is very good for Bangladesh cricket. They came here and they just didn’t lie down. They gave us a hard time,” Sarwan pointed out.