Dillon shines after batting onslaught

SOUTHAMPTON: Mervyn Dillon ended with a limited-overs international career best of five wickets for 29 runs yesterday to help West Indies formalise a 138-run triumph in their ICC Champions Trophy Group “B” cricket match over Bangladesh. The result was never in doubt after opening batsmen Chris Gayle with 99 and Wavell Hinds with 82 shared a partnership of 192 for the first wicket to propel West Indies to 269 for three from their 50 overs. Dillon then ripped through his opponents’ top order to reduce Bangladesh to 26 for five and render Saturday’s final group match against South Africa as a virtual quarter-final to decide a place in the semi-finals. Dillon was making a return to the side, after he had fallen out of favour with the selectors for the home series against Bangladesh in May/June this year and the subsequent tour of England.

He made the breakthrough in the third over when Javed Omar was caught at gully to give Darren Sammy one of his three catches in the slip cordon and added the wickets of Nafis Iqbal in the fifth over, Bangladesh captain Rajin Saleh in the seventh, and Khaled Mashud in the ninth. After Ian Bradshaw had Mohammad Ashraful caught, incidentally, by Dillon inside the deep  fine leg boundary, Nafis and Rajin were both bowled for two and seven respectively playing down the wrong line to well-pitched leg-cutters, and Khaled was caught at gully by Sammy for nought. Bangladesh never recovered, despite a late rally from former captain Khaled Mahmud with 34 not out from 51 balls, as well as a stand of 45 for the sixth wicket between Mushfiqur Rahman and Aftab Ahmed, both of whom scored 21.

Gayle ended with two for 12 from 4.3 overs to make him a shoe-in for the “Man-of-the-Match” award, after he missed out on his 10th limited-overs international hundred. He gained admirable support from Hinds, playing his first international match since a long injury layoff, throughout their record-equalling stand. Hinds fetched eight fours and a pair of sixes from 119 balls before he was first out, caught at deep mid-off off the hardworking Tapash Baisya in the 40th over. Gayle, driving loosely, was caught behind off Tapash in the 43rd over after hitting half-dozen boundaries from 132 balls. West Indies captain Brian Lara was run out when he was just getting warmed up after hitting one four and two sixes off Mohammed Rafique, but West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan with 30 not out and Shivnarine Chanderpaul kept things going until the end. (CMC)