The small but boisterous crowd at the National Stadium, Providence was silenced yesterday as the hosts, West Indies, suffered the indignity of a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in the first One Day International yesterday.
The West Indies might in hindsight, blame the early morning showers and the few damp spots on the outfield, but in reality it was another damp batting display that was really the cause for their defeat.
The match began shortly before lunch with Bangladesh winning the toss and inserting West Indies in the 41-overs-a-side affair.
Despite a paltry fielding performance by Bangladesh which was underscored by five dropped catches, West Indies could only muster 149 for nine by the time their quota expired.
Shai Hope was bowled by Mutafizur Rahman (1-34) for a golden duck but Shamarh Brooks tried to compensate for the early loss with a 66-ball 33 which featured three boundaries.
However, Shoriful Islam sent back Brooks and Brandon King off consecutive deliveries.
Islam continued to chip away at the West Indies batting order and added the wickets of the two Guyanese in the side, Romario Shepherd (15) and debutant, Gudakesh Motie (07) in the same over. He eventually ended with his best figures of 4-34.
The West Indies’ most productive partnership came from the last wicket pair of Anderson Phillip and Jayden Seales who added 39 runs m both players getting to their personal best scores in the format.
Phillip finished on 21 not out from 22 balls, including a six over mid-on into the Orange Stand in the final over off of Islam while Seales ended on 16 not out from 23 balls.
Mehidy Miraz supported Islam with 3-36, his haul including the wickets of Nicholas Pooran (18) and Kyle Mayers (10).
Bangladesh’s batting was never troubled by the West Indian bowlers who were unlucky on a few occasions, highlighted by Pooran bowling Mahmudullah when he was on 20 off a no-ball.
Mahmudullah eventually carried on to finish on 41 not out from 69 balls, hitting two fours and one six.
The former captain shared an unbroken partnership of 40 for the fifth wicket with Nurul Hasan (20 not out).
Najmul Shanto clubbed five boundaries during his 46-ball 37 before chipping to Pooran at short mid-on and in the process, handing Motie his maiden wicket in ODIs.
Bangladesh captain, Tamim Iqbal looked set from the get go, smacking five boundaries including a six but was run out via direct hit from Phillip throwing from gully for 33 from 25 balls.
After the match, Pooran acknowledged that there was not enough runs on the board.
“We definitely didn’t have enough runs on the board I felt like once we had close to 200-175 on that wicket, it would definitely be interesting to see how it would play out,” he said.Pooran added that they could have bowled a bit better in the powerplay.
