After a good first day, West Indies extended their dominance over Bangladesh. Two batters missed out on their hundreds on day one but Justin Greaves ensured he went past the three-figure mark as his ton helped the hosts get to 450 before the pacers took two wickets towards the fag end of the day.
Starting the day on 250/5, West Indies lost a couple of quick wickets. Hasan Mahmud struck twice in two overs with the second new ball as Bangladesh threatened to run through the lower order. At 261/7, it looked like Bangladesh had the chance of bowling West Indies out in and around 300.
However, Greaves got the company of Kemar Roach and the duo shared a 140-run stand for the 8th wicket. Roach survived an LBW shout which was umpire’s call on review. Another that Bangladesh failed to convert was when they did not appeal for a caught behind when Greaves was on 77.
The pair of Greaves and Roach bided their time early on. The former did the bulk of the scoring with Roach providing some solidity from his end.
Greaves brought up his maiden Test fifty just before lunch and it came off 88 balls. Post lunch, it was more of the same and he reached his first Test hundred just before the Tea interval. Roach was dismissed by Mahmud for 47 before Jayden Seales and Shamar Joseph struck a few boundaries on either side of Tea and West Indies declared on 450/9.
Bangladesh lose two wickets before stumps
In reply, Bangladesh started cautiously as the West Indies pacers were right on the money from the get-go. Mahmudul Hasan Joy was dropped in the gully. Alzarri Joseph was the unlucky bowler.
Zakir Hasan struck a couple of boundaries before Jayden Seales knocked him over in the same over. Joseph then redeemed himself with Mahmudul’s wicket as he had the Bangladesh opener caught in the slip cordon.
Mominul Haque and Shahadat Hossain Dipu saw off the remaining overs safely. Bangladesh ended the day on 40/2 as bad light once again forced early stumps.
Bangladesh will have to bat really well on the third day to make a match out of this. They are 410 runs behind and need another 210 runs to avoid the follow-on. The four-prong West Indies pace-attack will be looking to continue the good work and build on the start they’ve got.
BRIEF SCORES: West Indies 450/9 decl (Justin Greaves 115*, Mikyle Louis 97, Alick Athanaze 90, Hasan Mahmud 3/87, Taskin Ahmed 2/76, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 2/99) vs Bangladesh 40/2 (Zakir Hasan 15, Alzarri Joseph 1/2, Jayden Seales 1/15).
