Windies just avoid shock loss

KINGSTOWN: In an opening encounter that underscored the mediocrity of two struggling cricket teams, West Indies almost tottered to an unthinkable defeat before scrambling a one-wicket victory over Bangladesh yesterday to take a 1-0 lead in their three-match One-Day International series. Set a modest target of 145, the Caribbean side, fresh from an exciting and competitive ODI series against England, slid to 133 for nine in the 44th over through a mixture of inept and indecisive batting before Ian Bradshaw and last man Fidel Edwards saw them home with 20 deliveries to spare to maintain the home team’s impressive record of having only lost once in ODIs at the Arnos Vale Playing Field.

Even allowing for a generally lethargic and indifferent effort that allowed the Bangladeshis to recover from 81 for eight to a final score of 144 without further loss, the West Indies were cruising to their target with stand-in captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo taking the score to 119 for four before complacency and then confusion took over. Sarwan, having taken 11 runs in one over off Alok Kapali to accelerate the tedious pace of progress, hoisted Rajin Saleh into the lap of Mushfiqur Rahman on the deep mid-wicket boundary to trigger a slide that saw five wickets crashing for 14 runs in front of a stunned, disbelieving audience.

Dwayne Smith was stumped, direct hits removed Ridley Jacobs and Bravo by the run out route, and when Tino Best was adjudged leg before wicket swinging wildly at left-arm spinner Manjural Islam Rana, Bangladesh were on the verge of only their fifth ODI victory in 86 matches. But Bradshaw, whose inclusion ahead of Ravi Rampaul raised a few eyebrows, stayed calm and with a defiant Edwards holding firm at the other end, the pair avoided the ultimate humiliation with Bradshaw smashing a full toss from Saleh over midwicket for six in the 46th over to make the task considerably easier.

The left-handed all-rounder had earlier justified his selection with the excellent figures of two for 11 off ten overs and combined with the late heroics, was enough to earn him the “Man-of-the-Match” award. Playing his first ODI, Best claimed four for 35, including two wickets in the opening over of the match off successive deliveries. Fellow tearaway fast bowler Edwards picked up two wickets and it seemed their effort had effectively ended the match as a contest, even allowing for an unbroken ninth-wicket partnership of 63 between Mohammad Rafique (32 not out) and former captain Khalid Mashud (30 not out) that gave Bangladesh a modicum of respectability.