Mahmudullah

In the match reduced to 41 overs because of a wet outfield, Bangladesh won the toss and sent the West Indies in to bat. The home side was in early trouble losing Shai Hope first ball, bowled by an inswinger from Mustafizur Rahman for nought.

On a pitch of uneven bounce and taking spin, the West Indies struggled to rotate the strike. They lost Kyle Mayers for 10 in the 12^th over when the score was on 32. It would get a lot worse eight overs later when after limping to 55-2, they lost Brandon King and Shamarh Brooks off consecutive deliveries of the 21^st over bowled by Shoriful Islam for eight and 33, respectively.

The dismissals brought together Captain Nicholas Pooran (18) and Vice-Captain Rovman Powell (9), who together put on 20 for the fifth wicket. Mehidy Hasan Miraz removed both in quick succession to have the West Indies tottering on 91-6.

Shoriful picked up his third and fourth wickets with the dismissals of Romario Shepherd for 15 and Gudakesh Motie for 7, which along with the run out of Akeal Hosein for 3, saw the West Indies stumble to 110-9 in over 35.

Jayden Seales and Anderson Phillip, who were unbeaten on 16 and 21, respectively put on 39 for the last wicket to take the West Indies to 149-9.

Shoriful returned figures of 4-34 while Mehidy took 3-36.

Needing 150 for their first victory of the series, Bangladesh lost the wickets of Liton Das for 1 with the score at 9 and Tamim Iqbal for 33 when the score was 49 but still raced to 77-2 after 13 overs.

The tourists would lose the wickets of Najmul Hossain Shanto for 37 and Afif Hossain for nine as Bangladesh closed in on the victory but Mahmudullah 41 not out and Nurul Hasan (20) ensured that there would be no further jitters as they eased to 151-4 with 55 balls to spare.

Motie, who dismissed Shanto for the first wicket of his international career, bowled well for figures of 1-18 from nine overs while Pooran took 1-39 from seven. Akeal Hosein took 1-43.

According to Tamim, the journey to the CPL, which is set for August 18 in Trinidad and Tobago, is long and would keep him away from his family, making it difficult to respond to emergencies.

Due to the COVID-19 there is travel restriction and route to West Indies is very long. Say I make it to the islands but there is an emergency in my family, I will not be able to return easy. I do not want to take that chance,” said Tamim.

There is also the issue of figuring out when Bangladesh’s domestic cricket will restart. The last game was played in March and it is still unknown when a restart is likely but Tamim, in particular, wants to be available when it does.

“The tournament [Dhaka Premier League] is suspended but as you know, we all are waiting for it to resume which can happen any time,” said Tamim.

Mahmudullah and Tamim have played in the CPL before, the former for the Jamaica Tallawahs and the Bangladesh captain for the St Lucia Zouks.

The hosts entered Thursday’s encounter with the series victory already secured and their team selection reflected that with four changes made to the side that won on Tuesday. Alzarri Joseph, Alick Athanaze and debutants Jangoo and Jediah Blades replaced Jayden Seales, Evin Lewis, Justin Greaves and Marquino Mindley in the eleven.

Captain Shai Hope won the toss and decided to have a bowl first, a decision that looked like the right one when Alzarri Joseph removed both Tanzid Hassan and Litton Das without scoring in the third over with the score on jut nine.

However, that proved to be the most success the hosts would have for some time with Soumya Sarkar and captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz adding 136 for the third wicket.

That wicket finally came in the 24^th over when Gudakesh Motie trapped Sarkar in front for a run-a-ball 73 including six fours and four sixes.

Six overs later with the score on 171, Miraz went run out by an excellent bit of fielding by Sherfane Rutherford for 77 off 73 balls, with his knock consisting of eight fours and two sixes.

The next over saw Rutherford get the wicket of Afif Hossain for 15 to leave Bangladesh 171-5 with three balls to go in the 31^st over.

The next 19.3 overs saw Bangladesh produce their best batting of the series by a mile through Mahmudullah and Jaker Ali.

The pair embarked on an unbeaten 150-run stand that saw the innings close at 321-5 off 50 overs, Bangladesh’s best score of the series.

Mahmudullah, who hit fifties in the first two games, was at it again with a brilliant 84* off 63 balls including seven fours and four sixes while Jaker made 62* off 57 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes in the process.

Alzarri Joseph was the best West Indian bowler on the day with 2-43 from his 10 overs.

Setting out to chase 322 secure a 3-0 sweep, the hosts didn’t enjoy the best start with Brandon King (15), Alick Athanaze (7) and Shai Hope (3) all falling within the first five overs of the reply, Hope’s wicket falling with the score on 31.

Keacy Carty and Sherfane Rutherford then put on an important 55 for the fourth wicket before Rutherford, the hero in the first game of the series, went caught in the deep off the bowling of Taskin Ahmed for a 33-ball 30, leaving the West Indies 86-4 one ball into the 15^th over.

That wicket brought Amir Jangoo to the crease to join Carty and the two put on a batting masterclass to the delight of the crowd on hand in Basseterre.

Their partnership of 132 for the sixth wicket saw Carty bring up a fifth ODI fifty off 49 balls and the debuting Jangoo bring up his half century off just 45 balls.

It eventually ended when Carty, five runs short of what would be his second ODI century, played one shot too many and was caught at point by Sarkar off the bowling of Rishad Hossain in the 33^rd over.

Carty’s 95 came off 88 balls and included 10 fours and two sixes.

Roston Chase was next to go, caught and bowled by Hossain for 12 in the 38^th overs, leaving the hosts 234-6.

Undeterred, Jangoo carried on and, now joined by Gudakesh Motie, looked set for a brilliant hundred that he hoped would also be a match-winning one.

His hopes soon came to fruition as the 27-year-old brought up that hundred off just 79 balls with a six off Afif Hossain in the 45^th over, joining Desmond Haynes as West Indians to make a hundred on ODI debut.

The next over saw Motie, who made 44* off 31 balls in supporting Jangoo over the line, hit the winning runs with a pair of sixes off Rishad Hossain to complete the chase, with the hosts reaching 325-6 off 45.5 overs.

Jangoo finished 104* off 83 balls, hitting six fours and four sixes.

Rishad Hossain finished with 2-69 off 8.5 overs for Bangladesh.

Full Scores:

Bangladesh 321-5 from 50 overs (Mahmudullah 84*, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 77, Soumya Sarkar 73, Jaker Ali 62*, Alzarri Joseph 2-43)

West Indies 325-6 from 45.5 overs (Amir Jangoo 104*, Keacy Carty 95, Gudakesh Motie 44*, Rishad Hossain 2-69).