Antigua Test
Antigua Test: WI take early control after Bangladesh’s poor batting
Hosts West Indies tightened the grip on the Antigua Test on the opening day after Bangladesh batted poorly in the first innings on Thursday.
The opening day was a miserable day for the Tigers as they failed to bat well and also failed to field in a way they needed most.
In reply to Bangladesh’s paltry first innings of 103 runs, the Windies made 95 for two in 48 overs to end day one. Kraigg Brathwaite and Nkrumah Bonner remained unbeaten for 42 and 12 respectively.
Bangladeshi pacers bowled lion-heartedly but the fielders failed them missing three catches.
Also read: Antigua Test: Bangladesh 103 all out in first-innings
In the first 15 overs, West Indies scored only 15 runs. They started their first innings on a cautious note on the brown wicket that has plenty of help for the pacers. They lost the first wicket in 44 runs Mustafizur Rahman, who was playing his first Test after a long gap, scalped the wicket of John Campbell for 24.
Raymon Reifer was the second Windies man to fall. Ebadot Hossain took the second wicket.
Earlier, the hosts won the toss and bowled first. They scalped three wickets inside 31 runs, and six wickets inside the first session.
Six Bangladeshi batters failed to add anything to their names. It was the first time in cricket’s history when a team suffered six ducks in two consecutive Tests. Bangladesh’s last six ducks came against Sri Lanka last month at home. But centuries from Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das had concealed the batting failure.
But this time around, Shakib Al Hasan was the only Bangladeshi batter to show some resistance. He made 51. Apart from Shakib, Tamim Iqbal (29) and Liton Das (12) were the only other batters to have scored a double-digit innings.
“I have no explanation of this batting display,” Shakib, the Bangladesh captain said in the post-day briefing. “I don’t have anything to say about this batting. I’m not sure anyone in our team has any explanation.”
While scoring 29, Tamim became the second Bangladeshi batter after Mushfiqur Rahim to have scored 5000 runs in Tests.
Also read: Tamim becomes fastest Bangladeshi to score 5000 runs in Test
Jayden Seales and Alzarri Joseph bagged three wickets each for the hosts while Kemar Roach and Kyle Mayers took two wickets each.
After a dismal show on the opening day, Bangladesh have already in trouble in this Test. The Tigers need to demonstrate something big to come out of this situation in Antigua.
Antigua Test: Bangladesh bat first against West Indies
West Indies have won the toss and sent Bangladesh to bat first in the first of the two-match Test series in Antigua Thursday.
Bangladesh included left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman in the playing XI. Liton Das will not keep wicket in this match. Nurul Hasan Sohan was added to the playing XI as specialist wicketkeeper.
Along with Mustafizur, the other two pacers of Bangladesh are Khaled Ahmed and Ebadot Hossain – both playing their first Test in the West Indies.
In this Test, the West Indies are relatively younger compared to Bangladesh. However, the late inclusion of Kemar Roach will be a boost to the hosts.
Also Read: Shakib wants to see ‘team performance’
Before this series, Bangladesh took on the West Indies in 18 matches and won only four of them.
The Tigers played eight Tests in the West Indies and won two of them with the last win being in 2018 during their last tour to the Caribbean.
Bangladesh will miss the service of batter Mushfiqur Rahim who chose not to take part in this series for personal reasons.
Right before the first Test, Bangladesh also lost Yasir Ali Rabbi who suffered a blow on his back that eventually ruled him out of the series. To replace him, Bangladesh recalled Anamul Haque to the Test team after eight years. He will be available to play in the second Test slated to be played on June 24.
Bangladesh playing XI
Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mominul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Litton Das, Nurul Hasan (w), Mehdi Hassan, Ebadot Hossain, Khaled Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman
West Indies playing XI
Kraigg Brathwaite (c), John Campbell, Nkrumah Bonner, Jermaine Blackwood, Kyle Mayers, Joshua Da Silva (w), Raymon Reifer, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Gudakesh Motie, Jayden Seales