Irfan Sukkur

After bowling the West Indies out for 345, Bangladesh ‘A’, trailing by 108 runs on first innings, reached 274-6 at stumps, for a lead of 166 runs heading into the final day of play on Friday.

The hosts owe their position to half-centuries from opener Shadlam Islam, Shahadat Hossain and Irfan Sukkur, the latter being unbeaten on 64 and who along with Nayeem Hasan have so far added 65 runs for the seventh wicket.

The West Indies ‘A’, resuming from their overnight score of 268-6 with Joshua da Silva on nine and Kevin Sinclair on one, took the score to 329, a stand of 63 for the seventh wicket that was broken when Sinclair was dismissed for 32 by Hasan Sakib, who would eventually take all four West Indies wickets.

Akeem Jordan, Anderson Phillip and Jair McAllister all fell cheaply leaving da Silva high and dry on 47. The West Indies ‘A’ captain was visibly irritated when McAllister went for an ill-advised pull shot and was out caught for a duck first ball of the 97^th over, to be last man out thus denying his captain a chance to achieve another 50.

Hasan Sakib's four wickets came at a cost of 59 runs.

Trailing by 108 on first innings, opener Shadlam Islam made 74 while helping lay the foundation for the Bangladesh ‘A’ fightback. At 51-2 after losing the wickets of Zakir Hasan for 13 and Saif Hasan for 16, Islam featured in a 56-run third wicket partnership with Mohammad Naim, who was eventually dismissed by Sinclair for 28.

The loss of Naim’s wicket brought Shahadat Hossain to the crease and he and Islam further frustrated the West Indies bowlers while putting on 68 for the fourth wicket.

Sinclair eventually broke through trapping Islam for 74 before dismissing Afif Hossain for four as Bangladesh ‘A’ slipped to 180-5. Sinclair picked up his third wicket when he dismissed Shahadat Hossain 50 with the lead at 101.

That would be the last success for the West Indies bowlers for the day as Sukkur and Nayeem Hasan kept the tourists’ attack at bay until the close.

Sinclair’s three wickets cost 76 runs while Akeem Jordan has so far picked up 2-38.

Resuming from their overnight score of 274-6, a lead of 166, the hosts only managed to add an additional 23 runs and were bowled out for 297 for a lead of 189. Chasing victory, The West Indies were in trouble at 70-5 before King scored a stabilizing 54 as the West Indies reached 191-7 in 49.5 overs.

Irfan Sukkur, 64 not out and Nayeem Hasan on 14 overnight extended their 65-run partnership to 78 which was broken when Jair McAllister had Hasan caught behind for 17. Sinclair then dismissed Tanzim Hasan Hakib and Sukkur in quick succession for four and 72, respectively, before McAllister ended the innings with the wicket of Khaled Ahmed for 0 with the score at 297.

Sinclair finished with the impressive figures of 5-79 to go with his first innings take of 2-44. McAllister, the Player of the Match in the first drawn unofficial Test, finished with 2-42 while Akeem Jordan took 2-38.

Chasing a target of 190 for victory, the West Indies were in danger of relinquishing their grip on the match, losing their first five wickets for just 70 runs. Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Raymon Reifer each scoring 22 before losing their wickets to Saif Hasan. Kirk McKenzie made 12 and Keacy Carty and Alick Athanaze, four each, as the tourists’ run chase faltered.

However, Brandon King, who has had a terrible time of it so far with two consecutive ducks, found some form to help stage a West Indies recovery with a well-played 54 as he and Captain Joshua da Silva added a crucial 76 runs for the sixth wicket.

That stand was ended when King was dismissed by Tanvir Islam with the West Indies’ still 44 runs shy of their target. Things got worse when the bowler also had Sinclair caught behind for four. Da Silva and Akeem Jordan then combined to score the remaining runs. The captain scored an unbeaten 47 for the second time in the match and Akeem Jordan 22 from 20 balls as the West Indies ‘A’ secured victory at 191-7.

Tanvir Islam took 4-52 and Saif Hasan 2-24 in the losing cause.