Cricket: Bangladesh take series win over Windies

Bangladesh kept their cool under pressure to beat West Indies by two wickets in the fifth one-day international and take the five-match series 3-2.

Nasir Hossain played a crucial unbeaten innings of 39 as the home side survived Kemar Roach's vicious pace and the crafty spin of Sunil Narine to overhaul the West Indies' 217 all out with six overs in hand when they ended 221-8.

Roach finished with 5-56 while Narine claimed 3-38 but they were unable to help defend the West Indies total, driven by a powerful half-century from Kieran Pollard who cracked 85 off 74 balls including eight sixes.

Roach removed openers Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque in his second over and then Jahirul Islam in his fifth to leave the hosts wobbling at 30-3 in front of a 25,000 crowd at Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

However, player of the match Mahmudullah and skipper Mushfiqur Rahim launched a counter attack to bring the roar back and put Bangladesh firmly on course before Narine silenced the gallery again when he ended their 91-run fourth-wicket stand.

Narine bowled Mahmudullah for 48 and was lucky to bowl Rahim for 44 when he defended well only to see it bounce and hit the stumps, putting the pressure back on the home side who still needed 85 runs for win.

Mominul Haque (25) held his nerve to add a further 53 runs with Nasir to take Bangladesh close to their target though the home side almost ruined the party after losing two quick wickets to Roach at the end of their innings.

Mominul earlier took two vital wickets to help Bangladesh restrict West Indies to a modest total after Pollard had threatened to take it beyond them.

Pollard joined Darren Bravo when West Indies were stuttering at 17-3 and struggling to keep the scoreboard ticking having gone five overs without scoring a run.

Pollard released the pressure off with eight sixes and five boundaries before Mominul bowled him to end his 132-run fourth-wicket stand with Bravo, who played the role of an anchor to score 51 off 108 balls.

Bangladesh then quickly wrapped up the innings as West Indies lost their last five wickets for 29 runs.

This is Bangladesh's second series win against West Indies after they recorded a 3-0 clean sweep against the under-strength side in the Caribbean in 2009.

West Indies, who won the test series 2-0, will end their tour with a Twenty20 international on Monday.

 

Add a Comment

OUTSTREAM