West Indies took a 158-run lead in the first innings and remained at stumps with eight wickets in hand against visiting Bangladesh after the 1st day’s play of the 1st Test at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Wednesday.
Restricting Bangladesh on their lowest total 43/10 in Test cricket with a blistering five-wicket haul of pacer Kemar Roach, West Indies opened the 1st innings before the day’s lunch-break and scored 201/2* in 68 overs, riding on the opening partnership stand of 113 off 40.4 overs between Kraigg Brathwaite and Devon Smith.
Opener Kraigg Brathwaite [88* off 204b; 8×4] was staying a 12-run away for century at the crease and Devendra Bishoo [1* off 16b] pairing him in the 3rd wicket when the bails were drawn for the first day.
Debutant pacer Abu Jayed made the 1st breakthrough for Bangladesh as he removed Devon Smith [58 off 123b; 7×4], caught behind by Nurul Hasan, to break down the opening pair.
After the dismissal of Devon Smith, top scorer Kraigg Brathwaite continued with Kieran Powell [48 off 65b; 7×4] in the 2nd wicket to contribute in another partnership of 81 off 23.3 overs before Kieran Powell was caught by Liton Kumar Das off Mahmudullah Riyad on 194/2 in 64.1 overs.
Mahmudullah conceded six runs in three overs while pacer Abu Jayed 55 in 16 overs for their one wicket each.
Earlier, Bangladesh touched a new low in their cricketing history, getting bowled out for just 43 runs after being put in to bat first by Windies skipper Jason Holder on the first morning, the hapless Tigers managed to last all of just18.4 overs, ending on a total that earned them a number of dubious records (see below).
Windies pace bowler Kemar Roach was the wrecker in chief, ending with the quite remarkable figures of 5/8 off five overs, including the wickets of Mushfiqur Rahim, skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad-all for ducks.
It was a procession of fall, once Kemar Roach had Tamim Iqbal nicking to ‘keeper Shane Dowrich off the last delivery of the 5th over of the day, with the scoreboard on 10.
Liton Kumar Das [25 off 53b; 2×4] opened with Tamim for the first time, and on a morning that was over all too quickly, presented the only show of any resistance with a doughty 25 it turn was the only double digit scorer for Bangladesh, was caught by Roston Chase off pacer Miguel Cummins on 34/6 in 13.2 overs.
