Daily Times

KINGSTON: Jason Holder led the rout of Bangladesh with a five-wicket haul as the West Indies took control of the second Test at close on second day at Sabina Park in Jamaica on Friday. Having fought back well at the start of the day to limit the home side’s first innings to 354, the tourists were bundled out for 149 off less than 47 overs with West Indies captain Holder claiming five for 44. With the option of enforcing the follow-on available to him, Holder chose to bat a second time and although Kraigg Brathwaite fell to Bangladesh skipper Shakib al Hasan in the final over of an eventful day, the West Indies will start day three at 19 for one in their second innings, a commanding lead of 224 runs with nine wickets in hand. Only Tamim Iqbal, who topscored with 47, offered any meaningful resistance for the visitors in an abject batting display.

The hosts are now poised to complete an emphatic series win after scoring a crushing victory by an innings and 219 runs in less than three days in the opening Test in Antigua last week. Tamim’s was the fifth wicket to fall in the innings, giving debutant all-rounder Keemo Paul his first Test wicket when he bowled the experienced left-hander. Paul, who had failed to score in his maiden Test innings amid the clatter of Caribbean wickets in the morning, immediately followed up with the wicket of Nurul Hasan. Shannon Gabriel initiated the Bangladesh collapse when he disposed of Tamim’s opening partner, Liton Das, and Mominul Haque in quick succession shortly after the
lunch interval.

Any satisfaction the Bangladeshis would have felt with their morning’s work in taking the last six West Indian first innings wickets for the addition of 59 runs quickly evaporated as they once again laboured against bowling which exposed technical deficiencies to pace and bounce. They enjoyed a brief passage of optimism in a 59-run third-wicket partnership between Tamim and Shakib, the pair often treading the fine line between adventure and irresponsibility with the sort of shot-making that forced Holder to ring the bowling changes. It was when he brought himself on that the breakthrough came to finally put paid to any realistic prospect of even a reasonable Bangladesh reply. Shakib was bowled off the inside-edge for 32 and, keeping the trend of one wicket following another, the experienced Mahmudullah’s horrible series continued when he fell leg-before second ball without scoring. From that point it was not a matter of if but when the West Indies bowlers would have completed the job and it was Holder himself who scythed through the hapless lower-order, adding the wickets of former captain Mushfiqur Rahim, Taijul Islam and last man Abu Jayed before making the instant decision to bat a second time. Earlier, Mehidy Hasan completed a five-wicket haul after Jayed triggered a lower-order slump as the West Indies were dismissed 20 minutes before lunch, having started the day in the relatively comfortable position of 295 for four. Medium-pacer Jayed snared three of the six wickets to fall while spinner Mehidy claimed two off successive balls in finishing with figures of five for 93.

Published in Daily Times, July 15^th 2018.