Fizz, Ebadot bag one wicket each but WI in command

Mustafizur Rahman bagged his first Test wicket in over a year and Ebadot Hossain bagged another as Bangladesh bowlers kept a tight leash on Windies with the ball after a very difficult outing with the bat on day one of the first Test against West Indies at Antigua.

The three pacers Mustafizur, Ebadot and Khaled Ahmed gave very little on offer but the Windies batters marked the day with their patience even as they found run-scoring very hard.

Having been bowled out for just 103 in 32.5 overs, Bangladesh were hoping for the same kind of help that Windies pacers had gotten from the conditions. Mustafizur started with the three maidens and was supported well by Khaled who began with two maidens on the trot. The first runs came in the sixth over but the pressure did not amount to much in that second session as Windies went to tea at 15 for no loss in 15 runs.

Both openers would chance their arms against the spin duo of Shakib Al Hasan and Mehedi Hasan Miraz in the third session to slightly up the run-rate.

Fizz got the breakthrough 26th over into the Windies innings as left-handed John Campbell got an inside edge and failed to keep the ball from knocking the bails off and departed for a 72-ball 24. Skipper Kraig Brathwaite was able to find a few boundaries with the run-rate going upto two an over but Ebadot, who had given away just seven runs in seven overs, came into the attack and produced a ball that moved just enough to square up Raymon Reifer (11) and found the outside-edge through to the wicket-keeper.

In between, Bangladesh lost two reviews, one against Brathwaite when Shakib decided to go for a review feeling there was an edge through to the wicket-keeper in the 33rd over off his own bowling before Mustafizur went for a review on a leg-before decision against Nkrumah Bonner in the 44th over but the ball was missing the stumps after rapping the pads.

Mustafizur's 12 overs cost just 10 runs for a wicket, Ebadot conceded 18 in the same number of overs for a wicket too. Khaled gave away just 15 in 9 overs as the pacers kept an extremely tight least on proceedings as Windies reached close of play at 95 for 2 after 48 overs, only 8 runs behind the Tigers' first innings score after day one. Brathwaite's unbeaten 42 off 149 deliveries see Windies in the driver's seat on a tough pitch to bat on.