SarwanKINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC:
IN AN opening encounter that underscored the mediocrity of two struggling teams, the West Indies almost fell 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 Arnos Vale.
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.
SLIDE
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 lbw 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.
Best, whose pace and hostility caused more than a few problems for the English during the four-Test series, set the tone for the low-scoring match when he prompted Shahriar Hossain to edge the day's third delivery to first slip and then trapped Habibul Bashar lbw first ball as the Bangladeshi captain essayed an ambitious pull to a delivery that was not short enough to justify the shot.
Speculation about a new record low total in ODIs intensified when Manjural fell lbw to Edwards in the second over to leave Bangladesh in ruins at five for three.
Mohammad Ashraful and Saleh ensured that at least that indignity was avoided in a 38-run, fourth-wicket partnership before Ashraful, the scorer of a Test century at just 17 years of age, edged an Edwards delivery into the gloves of wicketkeeper Jacobs. Bradshaw then accounted for Saleh, also via a wicketkeeper's catch.
The left-arm seamer removed Kapali to a comfortable catch to Best at mid-on, and when the little pacer returned for a second spell and disposed of Mushfiqur Rahman and Khalid Mahmud in the same over, the 33rd, it seemed a formality that the West Indies would be making their reply before the lunch interval.
But Mashud and Rafique showed just what might have been possible with a little more application from those ahead of them in the order, playing sensibly and capitalising on a lethargic home side that appeared to ease off the throttle in the final overs.
Tapash Baisya had Chris Gayle caught behind for a duck in the third over of the reply to give the visitors an early spark of hope.
Sylvester Joseph, back in the team in the absence of injured captain Brian Lara, laboured before departing to a leg-side catch for seven. But with Ricardo Powell, 52, promoted to the top of the order, hammering his eighth ODI half-century, victory still seemed assured despite laborious progress.
The complexion changed when Shivnarine Chanderpaul fell lbw to Rana and Powell was bowled by Mahmud to reduce the West Indies to 83 for four in the 29th over.
Yet that only seemed a minor stutter before the landslide that followed almost buried the home team, until Bradshaw and Edwards kept them alive for a victory that nevertheless did it little credit.
