A flying West Indies crushed a struggling Bangladesh in the third and final ODI by 91 runs at St Kitts Warner Park early Tuesday BdST to seal the series 3-0. The Tigers could muster just 247/8 in 50 overs, chasing a massive target of 339 runs at Basseterre. The hosts won the toss and opted to bat first but had a shaky start losing both openers — Lendl Simmons and Chris Gayle — in five overs for 12/2. But they soon recovered thanks to a record 258-run third-wicket partnership between Dwayne Bravo (124) and Denesh Ramdin (169). The duo hit 19 sixes as Bangladeshi bowlers struggled to keep West Indies in check. He and wicket-keeper batsman Ramdin hit some lusty blows during the scintillating partnership for the third wicket – the best-ever for any partnership by the West Indies in all ODIs. They hit sixes at will with the short boundaries and registered their second ODI hundred. This is the third time that a West Indian No.3 and 4 both scored hundreds in the same ODI. No other team has done it more than twice. Mominul Haque, brought in for a change, proved to be expensive as he went off for 19 in his only over. Ramdin walked away with the Man of the Match trophy for his dazzling innings laced with eight fours and 11 sixes while Bravo hit seven fours and eight sixes. Bangladesh bowled well in the last few overs to stem the run flow a bit but the damage was already done. Al-Amin Hossain was once again the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers with 4/59. Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Abdur Razzak and Mahmudullah picked one wicket each — Razzak being the most expensive of the lot having leaked 76 in his 10 overs. Bangladesh crumbled at the beginning of their chase, losing two early wickets in the first two overs with just two runs on the board. Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim (72) put up a valiant effort with opener Tamim Iqbal (55) who scored his first fifty in 18 innings. Their promising 99-run partnership was broken when Tamim was bowled by Sunil Narine. Bangladseh’s hope of victory perished with Mushfiqur’s departure at 163/5. The West Indian bowlers kept the pressure up on the Tigers who lost wickets at regular intervals. Ravi Rampaul was the most successful bowler of the match, claiming 4 wickets for just 29 runs in his 10-over spell at an economy rate of 2.9 with 2 maidens. Jason Holder, Dwayne Bravo, Kemar Roach and Narine got a wicket each. This was Bangladesh’s 13th loss in a row. They are yet to register a win this year. In the second match, they were all out for a humiliating 70 — the second time they scored below 100 in an ODI this year. –bdnews24.com
