West Indies secure a consolation win

By pratik
for Cricketain.com

Published: August 3, 2009

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Basseterre, St Kitts: West Indies finally won a game as Bangladesh suffered their only defeat on their tour to the West Indies. West Indies managed to seal a consolation win in the only Twenty20 International on Sunday.

Bangladesh imploded spectacularly at the top but they kept playing like millionaires to be restricted to a below-par 118, which West Indies overhauled without breaking a sweat.

Sunday’s Twenty20 International was the last game of the tour for Bangladesh. The two tests and three one day internationals had ended in a historic sweep for Bangladesh as they won the tests 2-0 and the one dayers’ 3-0 against a second string West Indian side marred by a player boycott.

Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat but never really got the innings going. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals in an innings which included as many as four run-outs which demonstrated the recklessness with which Bangladesh played in this game.

Naeem Islam was the only one who stuck around at the wicket for some time making 27 off 18 balls. Mahmudullah scored 21 off 27 balls and was the second highest scorer of the innings with no other batsman even managing to reach 20.

Bangladesh finished their innings at 118 for 9 off their 20 overs. For the West Indies, Nikita Miller was the pick of the bowlers ending with figures of 2 for 22 off his 4 overs. Darren Sammy took 2 for 33 while Tonge chipped in with 1 wicket.

The only worry for West Indies against a meager total of 118 was whether they would be able to handle the Bangladeshi spin bowlers on a pitch that was turning.

Shakib, bowling his left-arm spin, removed opener Dale Richards with the very first ball of the West Indies’ run-chase. But Bangladesh was put on the back-foot by a stand of 46 between Andre Fletcher and fellow Grenadian Devon Smith that put West Indies firmly on course.

The result was secured, when Travis Dowlin, whose run-a-ball 37 was the top score, pulled a long-hop from left-arm spinner Mehrab Hossain Jr for the last of his five fours.

Mohammad Ashraful ended with two wickets for 18 runs from two overs.

“We didn’t bat well, especially the top-order batsmen, including myself, and we didn’t play smart cricket, that was our downfall,” said Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan.

“I don’t know why we played like this, but we didn’t execute our game plan well. If you have four run-outs in an innings, it will be very difficult for you to score runs in a T20.”

He added, “We have played very good cricket for the last month, and one bad game does not make us look bad. We are looking forward to our trip to Zimbabwe. It will be very important to us.”

“It’s good to have ended the series on a winning note,” said West Indies captain Floyd Reifer, who made 22.

“I thought the guys fielded really well to put them under pressure. In our team meetings, we talked about Twenty20 being a really fast-paced form of the game, and we needed everyone to be sharp in the field.”

Reifer added, “It was going to be difficult for us coming into this match after losing the Tests and ODIs.”But I told the guys that we had to look forward to the future, and think about the bigger picture. We needed to move forward and keep improving.”

Brief Scores:

West Indies 119 for 5 (Smith 37, Dowlin 37*) beat

Bangladesh 118 for 9 (Islam 27, Sammy 2-33, Miller 2-22) by five wickets

Man of the Match: Darren Sammy (West Indies)

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