GROS ISLET, St. Lucia - Ramnaresh Sarwan, twirling his uncomplicated leg-spin, was the unlikely hero for West Indies, as they uprooted six Bangladesh wickets late on the fourth day in their opening cricket Test yesterday.
Sarwan captured three wickets for 22 runs from eight overs to send Bangladesh crashing to 94 for six in their second innings when bad light stopped play nine overs early at the Beausejour Stadium.
The West Indies vice-captain removed Mohammad Ashraful, Faisal Hossain and Mushfiqur Rahman in a sensational period of play in the final hour when Bangladesh lost four wickets for nine runs from 24 balls in 21 minutes.
Bangladesh had claimed a 64-run first innings lead when they bowled West Indies out for 352 only to unravel their hard work with some careless batting that saw them plunge to 79 for six.
Rajin Saleh, unbeaten on 34, and Khaled Mashud, not out on four, batted through the final 40 minutes with little fanfare or concerns following an inexplicable batting collapse.
BROTHERS SHARE WICKETS
Brothers Fidel Edwards and Pedro Collins shared the first two wickets to leave Bangladesh on 21 for two. Edwards bowled Hannan Sarkar for nine and Collins had Javed Omar caught down the leg-side for seven.
Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh captain and first innings century-maker, played positively and added 49 for the third wicket with Rajin before Tino Best, belatedly introduced into the attack, bowled him for 25 to trigger the decline.
In the next over, Sarwan had Ashraful caught and bowled for one, and followed up with two wickets off successive balls in his next over, when Faisal was caught at slip for two and Mushfiqur was adjudged lbw for a first-ball duck.
Earlier, a wet outfield caused by rain delayed the scheduled start by 2-1/2 hours and only 13 overs were bowled in an hour before a rescheduled lunch interval.
Chris Gayle top-scores with 141 for West Indies. West Indies moved from their overnight total of 262 for five to 303 for five, but they lost their last five wickets for 40 with Chris Gayle hitting the top score of 141 and Mushfiqur taking a career- best four wickets for 65 runs from 25.4 overs to be the most successful Bangladesh bowler.
BREAKTHROUGH
Tapash Baishya made the breakthrough when Gayle was caught at first slip edging a loose drive. The West Indies opening batsman added 59 for the sixth wicket with Ridley Jacobs to cut into the Bangladesh lead and batted 7-1/4 hours, faced 293 balls and struck 17 fours.
After his dismissal, West Indies reached tea on 335 for seven, but there was neither substance nor stability from the tail-end batsmen with Jacobs being left not out on 46.
Mohammad Rafique ended with three for 90 from 36 overs and Tapash with two for 87 from 26 overs.
The Test concludes today with play scheduled to commence at 9:35 a.m. (East Caribbean Time).
The second and final Test will be played in Jamaica, starting on Friday. (Windiescricket.com)