GROS ISLET, St. Lucia, (CMC) - A cluster of wickets towards the end of the day helped to bring West Indies back into the opening cricket Test against Bangladesh following Habibul Bashar’s third Test century yesterday.
Choosing to bat, West Indies restricted the visitors to 278 for seven in their first innings when stumps were drawn on the opening day, after Bashar put them on the back foot with a superb 113, his highest Test score.
The Bangladesh captain hit 15 fours from 131 balls in 202 minutes to underline his position of being his team’s best batsman. He shared a century second wicket stand with Javed Omar and added 50 for the third wicket with Rajin Saleh.
Later, Mohammed Ashraful, batting at five, rallied the Bangladeshis with an unbeaten 65 and is now eyeing his second Test hundred.
Pedro Collins was the most successful West Indies bowler with three wickets for 76 runs from 20 overs and Ramnaresh Sarwan took two for 20 from 14 overs with his uncomplicated leg-spin.
“I think this is probably my best hundred because to score a hundred against the West Indies is always special,” Bashar told reporters in a post-play news conference.
“From the time I started playing cricket, I loved West Indies cricket, so it was my dream that I would play Test cricket in the Caribbean and score a hundred against West Indies.
“The pitch seems good to me. I thought it would have been a good pitch on which to bat first. Nobody wants to bat in the fourth innings on a wearing pitch in Test cricket and I wanted to avoid this.”
The day started brightly for West Indies when Collins’ sharp inswinger had opening batsman Hannan Sarkar lbw for zero to the first ball of the match. But a combination of wayward bowling and a docile Beausejour Stadium pitch hamstrung Brian Lara’s side.
“It was not the most responsive pitch and was flatter and easier than the Antigua Recreation Ground pitch on which I made 400 not out,” he said.
“The bowlers stuck with it, even though I thought they bowled too short at times. They did not get the batsmen playing off the front foot enough. At the end of the day, no matter the strength of the opposition, to get seven wickets on such a pitch was a good effort.”
Bashar threw caution to the wind and played some rasping strokes either side of the wicket, particularly, the hook and pull that brought him most of his boundaries.
A searing straight drive off Collins was one of his memorable strokes and a crunching pull off Jermaine Lawson was another.
He and Omar each survived a chance to carry Bangladesh to 101 for one at lunch. Omar, on seven, offered a sharp chance to forward short leg fielder Dwayne Smith off Fidel Edwards and Bashar, on 36, top-edged a hook at a short, rising ball from Jermaine Lawson that brushed the tips of wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs’ glove which umpire Daryll Harper of Australia signalled leg byes.
After the interval, they continued to play positively and helped
Bangladesh to reach 166 for two when rain prompted an early tea break.
By then, the Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar had pulled a short ball from Tino Best to long leg for a single to reach his landmark and had completed a 121-run stand with Omar, who was caught at gully off Collins for 32.
After the break, Bashar and Rajin Saleh reached the half-century mark with their partnership before Lawson, playing in his first Test for close to a year, had the Bangladesh captain caught at deep backward square leg when he top-edged a hook.
A stand of 56 between Saleh and Ashraful kept the momentum going for the visitors, but all their hard work became undone when four wickets tumbled for 23 runs to leave Bangladesh 250 for seven.
Saleh was caught behind off Sarwan for 26 when he drove a delivery into the right buttock of Dwayne Smith and Jacobs dived full stretch to grasp the rebound.
Left-hander Faisal Hossain was caught at mid-on off Collins for six, Mushfiqur Rahman was caught behind off Sarwan for one, and Khaled Mashud was stumped Jacobs off Gayle for two.
SCOREBOARD
BANGLADESH 1st Innings
Hannan Sarkar lbw b Collins 0
Javed Omar c D.S. Smith b Collins 32
*Habibul Bashar c D.R. Smith b Lawson 113
Rajin Saleh c wkpr Jacobs b Sarwan 26
Mohammad Ashraful not out 65
Faisal Hossain c Best b Collins 5
Mushfiqur Rahman c wkpr Jacobs b Sarwan 1
+Khaled Mashud st Jacobs b Gayle 2
Mohammad Rafique not out 17
Extras (lb3, nb14) 17
TOTAL (7 wkts) 278
Tareq Aziz, Tapash Baisya to bat.
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-121, 3-171, 4-227, 5-238, 6-241, 7-250.