By Brandon Corlette
The West Indies team slumped to a series defeat — their tenth successive defeat against Bangladesh in ODI cricket — when the Tigers, led by Tamim Iqbal’s unbeaten fifty, won the second match of their three-match ODI Series by nine wickets at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence yesterday.
This string of losses in ODI matches against Bangladesh began in Sylhet back in December 2018. Bangladesh wrapped up yesterday’s match, early ended on 112-1 in 20.4 overs.
Bangladesh had restricted West Indies to 108 all out in 35 overs, their second lowest ODI total at home. The lowest home total in this format had also come at Providence back in 2013, against Pakistan, when the men in maroon had made only 98.
Bangladesh began the chase with a 48-run opening stand in which Najmul Shanto, who made 20, was dismissed by being caught at mid-wicket off the impressive bowling of Gudakesh Motie after facing 35 balls.
That was all the inroads that Lady Success had written for the West Indies, as Iqbal sealed the match with a sweetly-timed boundary down the ground to reach his fifty. He ended the match on 50 from 62 balls in an innings that had seven fours, while Litton Das made 32.
Bangladesh spinners made merry at Providence.
Earlier, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to field first. West Indies made two changes, Keemo Paul and Alzarri Joseph returned, while Jayden Seales and Anderson Phillip missed out. Openers Kyle Mayers and Shai Hope started cautiously, and lived dangerously while running between the wickets.
The usually attacking Mayers was the first to be dismissed, falling for 17 when he was again bowled by an off-spinner. The score was then at 27-1 after 10.3 overs. Scoring runs freely proved difficult for the West Indies with the Bangladesh spinners coming hard at them. Shamarh Brooks came and struck a boundary, but was then bowled all ends up by left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed, with the score at 39-2 after 13.5 overs.
Hope, also struggling to play his usual free-flowing drives, was given out caught behind, but review showed that the ball had missed the bat. He was also mis-stumped on four. His struggles came to end when he hit one in the air and was caught for 18 from 45 balls.
It quickly became 45-4 in 18 overs when Nicholas Pooran was out for a golden duck. He attempted to reverse-sweep the first ball of his innings, but was bowled by the left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed, who was turning the ball into the left-handed batsmen.
Jamaican duo Brandon King and Rovman Powell added 24 runs to the tally for the fifth wicket. For a moment, the duo used their feet to the spinners, but Powell was caught for 13 after hitting two fours, and King, who was charging down the track to a straight ball, was bowled all ends up for a 44-ball 11.
Akeal Hosein, who was run out in the first ODI, was dismissed in similar fashion for two, and West Indies had fallen in a hole at 72-7 after 27 overs. Romario Shepherd then joined Alzarri Joseph, and the duo took West Indies to 86 in 30.2 overs. Shepherd attempted a reverse sweep and was bowled by the off-spinner Hasan; and one ball later, Joseph edged one and was caught behind for a golden duck, as West Indies slumped to 86-9.
Gudakesh Motie and Paul added 22 runs for the final wicket, before Motie was given leg-before. Paul showed his home experience and adjusted well on the slow Providence pitch. He was left not out on 25 from 24 balls, an innings decorated with four boundaries.
West Indies ended on 108 all out from 35 overs. Hasan was again the pick of the bowlers with his off-spin, claiming 4-29 in eight overs. The left-arm spinner Ahmed had 3-19 from ten overs. Bangladesh bowled seven overs of seam bowling, while 28 overs were all spin, yielding eight wickets for 85 runs, inclusive of five maidens.
This was Bangladesh’s best bowling performance against a Test playing nation away from home. The West Indies will have a lot of thinking to do as they seek to avoid their longest streak of losing ODI matches against an opponent.
Final ODI will be played on Sunday July 16 from 9:30h at Providence. (GTimes)