West Indies complacency goes unpunished

Bangladesh 194 West Indies 38-1

All things being relative, Bangladesh had one of their better Test match days here yesterday.

The newest and weakest addition to the game's limited élite raised a first innings total of 194 on the opening day of the second of their two Tests against the West Indies. It was appreciably more than the 139 and 87 they managed in their defeat by an innings and 310 in the first in Dhaka last week.

Their lively fast bowlers then kept the West Indies down to 38 for the loss of Wavell Hinds in 15.2 overs before rapidly-fading light ended play 8.4 overs prematurely.

There was an unmistakeable hint of complacency in a West Indies team that has been on tour, in Sri Lanka, India and now Bangladesh, for the past three and a half months.

Their four fast bowlers were as short of aggression and control as their tactics were of imagination. Bangladesh simply lacked the experience and application to capitalise on the deficiencies. Heaven knows what the Australians would have made of it.

Three times the Bangladeshi batsmen raised the hopes of a crowd of 12,000 at the MA Aziz Stadium only to dash them with careless dismissals that betrayed their naiveté in the demands of the longer game.

Openers Mohammed Al Sahariar and Hannan Sarkar confidently put on 43 but were out off successive balls, quickly followed by Habibul Basher, Bangladesh's only batsman with over 1,000 Test runs.

Sanwar Hossain and the richly-talented 18-year-old Mohammad Ashraful rebuilt the innings with a stroke-filled stand of 72. Once more, one quickly followed the other through careless strokes.

Ashraful was brilliantly caught at mid-off by Darren Powell for 28 off the left-arm seam bowler Pedro Collins and Hossain taken by the keeper down the leg-side off the glove for 36 during an unbroken spell of 17 overs by fast bowler Jermaine Lawson.

Collins and Powell claimed three wickets each, Lawson and Vasbert Drakes two each. But they were flattering returns.

BANGLADESH – First Innings
Hannan Sarkar c Gayle b Powell 15
Sahariar lbw b Drakes 25
Habibul Bashar c Jacobs b Powell 3
Sanwar Hossain c Jacobs b Lawson 36
Mohammad Ashraful c Powell b Collins 28
Alok Kapali c Gayle b Collins 2
Khaled Mashud c Sarwan b Drakes 32
Enamul Haque c Samuels b Lawson 8
Tapash Baisya hit wicket b Powell 5
Manjural Islam b Collins 21
Talha Jubair not out 4
Extras (lb5 nb10) 15
Total (63.1 overs) 194

Fall: 1-43, 2-43, 3-48, 4-112, 5-116, 6-125, 7-144, 8-153, 9-189.

Bowling: Collins 16.1-3-60-3; Drakes 9-3-23-2; Powell 16-4-51-3: Lawson 22-9-55-2.

WEST INDIES – First Innings
C H Gayle not out 10
W W Hinds c Khaled Mashud b Tapash Baisya 14
R R Sarwan not out 14
Extras 0
Total (for 1, 15.2 overs) 38

Fall: 1-16. To Bat: R D Jacobs; S Chanderpaul; P T Collins; V C Drakes; D Ganga; J J C Lawson;D B Powell; M N Samuels.

Bowling: Manjural Islam 8-5-12-0; Tapash Baisya 5-1-26-1; Talha Jubair 2.2-2-0-0.

Umpires: D L Orchard and D R Shepherd