ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada - Shaken by the narrow escape
four days earlier in St. Vincent, West Indies underlined their superiority over Bangladesh with a comfortable seven-wicket victory yesterday to complete a clean sweep of the three-match One- day International cricket series.
Heavy showers that threatened to again rob Grenadians of international action this season relented to allow for a match reduced to 25 overs-a- side.
The patience of the Queen's Park Stadium faithful was then rewarded, as the home team restricted the visitors to 118 for seven and then knocked off the runs with five deliveries to spare.
Fittingly, it was Grenadian hero Devon Smith who stroked the winning run that formalised his side's first whitewash of an ODI series at home, since completing a similar 3-0 triumph on South Africa's historic visit to the region in 1992.
Smith, who finished unbeaten on 39, played cautiously throughout his first international innings for almost two months.
No doubt mindful of his history-making presence as the first Grenadian to play a senior international match on home soil, the 22-year-old left-hander seemed unduly watchful as he made the most of the opportunity in the absence of Chris Gayle.
He lost opening partner Ricardo Powell (17) to an ugly shot that pro-duced a catch for Khaled Mahmud at mid-off, while Dwayne Smith failed to capitalise on a bad miss by Manjarul Islam Rana at mid wicket off Mahmud, falling lbw to Rana's first delivery for 23.
ANXIETY EASED
Any anxiety among the home fans was eased, however, in a 55-run, third-wicket partnership between Smith and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, with the local boy smashing Mahmud for a straight six in the 19th over.
Chanderpaul, attempting to end the match in a flourish, pulled medium-pacer Tapash Baishya to Faisal Hossain at midwicket.
Skipper Ramnaresh Sarwan was missed by his opposite number, Habibul Bashar, at cover, but it was all academic at that stage with victory virtually assured.
It was the Smiths' day with Devon taking the Man-of-the-Match award, while Dwayne was named Man-of-the-Series. Bashar, who surprised many when he chose to bat on winning the toss, was well on his way to justifying the decision in his first significant innings of the tour.
With just two runs to his credit from the previous two matches, the attacking right- hander launched into the bowling from the moment he arrived at the crease after the fall of the first wicket, Hannan Sarkar being caught behind down the leg-side off Ravi Rampaul.
On a pitch that encouraged attacking strokeplay, Bashar played a superb pull to the square-leg boundary and repeatedly attempted to hoist the medium-pace of Dwayne Smith and Dwayne Bravo over midwicket.
He lost Mohammad Ashraful when the little opener offered a simple catch to Ian Bradshaw at mid-on off Tino Best to reduce the Bangladeshis to 18 for two in the fifth over.
WORRYING DEVELOPMENT
It proved the last significant input from the diminutive fast bowler as he left the field shortly after with a suspected hamstring strain, a worrying development with the first Test in St. Lucia just nine days away.
Rajin Saleh contributed 17 in adding 47 for the third wicket with his captain before Ridley Jacobs took his second catch of the innings to give Dwayne Smith his first wicket.
Debutant Hossain, a strong left-hander, hit cleanly and powerfully for 17 in increasing the momentum with Bashar, but when both fell to Smith in the 20th over, the innings was severely crippled.
Faisal holed out to Dwayne Bravo at long-on and Bashar pulled a short delivery to Chanderpaul at midwicket when just eight runs short of a ninth ODI half-century.
Reduced to 93 for five by that double-blow, Bangladesh could only add another 25 runs over the last five overs.
Even allowing for the notorious unpredictability of the crop of young home batsmen, their final total was never going to be enough unless they made the most of the half-chances that came their way.
They could not and the glaring miss by Rana off Dwayne Smith typified their sorry effort in the field.