Tigers find right ideas but hosts reply in kind

Bangladesh's bowlers were able to find the right ideas after the West Indies' openers got off to a solid start on the second day of the second Test, continuing to pile up runs quickly. When it looked like the chips were down, the pacers responded by following in the footsteps of the home side's bowlers on a surface where runs were on offer along with some uneven bounce.

Tamim [Iqbal] and Liton [Das] were fantastic, but fifties and forties won't give you enough runs. They need to go on when they get their starts. Couple of the younger players were really impressive but again, they got out. We just need to bat longer. In Test cricket, you have to bat for a long time. You have to be there at the end of the day.

Bangladesh batting consultant Jamie Siddons

While there was steep bounce on a few deliveries, there were quite a few that kept quite low, creating doubt in the batter's mind during Bangladesh's first innings.

The new Duke ball hardly did anything for the Tigers on the first day and the hosts piled on 67 runs for no loss. Attacking intent from John Campbell and Kraigg Brathwaite had put the hosts on top and they continued in the same vein yesterday on the second day, putting up a 100-run stand.

Tamim Iqbal had spoken about the cracks on the surface after the first day and hoped they would get bigger as the match progressed. The invariable bounce on offer was more pronounced when bowlers hit certain areas of the pitch. The home side's bowlers had hit the surface hard after the good start from Bangladesh on the first day. There were more leg-before and bowled dismissals in this Test compared to the last one in Antigua. Tamim believed that was down to the pitch, not technical deficiencies from batters.

"It's proof that oppositions bowl into the wicket when there is not a lot of help from the wicket. When the wicket has invariable bounce, they bowl into the wicket," Tamim had remarked.

Shoriful Islam drew first blood for the Tigers when Campbell played a rash shot to a rising delivery and was caught-behind. The extra bounce did the trick as Bangladesh opened up one end in the 26th over of the Windies innings.

While Brathwaite applied himself astoundingly once more for his fifty, spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz then opened up both ends as he removed the Windies skipper with a delivery that went straight on and clipped the off stump in the 38th over. From 131 for two, Windies then went to 32 for four within the space of six deliveries.

That bowling into the wicket was going to serve the biggest challenge to the batters was shown by Khaled Ahmed in the 39th over. Raymon Reifer was looking good on 22 when Khaled's length delivery zipped off the surface just a bit more than expected along with some extra bounce. Reifer, trying to play it away from his body, saw the delivery deflect just a tad off the surface before taking the inside edge to shatter his stumps.

Khaled would then get the right-handed Nkrumah Bonner with a similar delivery, the ball once again skidding through from a length and hitting the bat high. Bonner, caught off guard by the sharp incoming delivery, could only manage to keep the ball away from his body but the inside edge would also disturb his stumps as the Tigers produced four wickets before lunch. Windies went to lunch at 137 for four.

Kyle Mayers came out with a different approach after lunch while the wicket was still good for quick runs. With Bangladesh's total of 234 relatively small, the Windies left-hander chanced his arms.

The ball would go through the vacant second or third slip region on a few occasions but he kept trading in boundaries while Jermaine Blackwood held up one end. The duo put on a fifty-run stand for the fourth wicket as the hosts closed in on Bangladesh's score.

Last Update

Bangladesh: First innings-234.
West Indies: First Innings-  248-4 in 72 overs (Mayers 57 not out, Blackwood 35 not out)