Mayers makes magical Windies moment

Memorable, historic, and inspiring are some of the adjectives that were used to describe the record-breaking performance from debutant Barbadian Kyle Mayers and the West Indies team, who pulled off an unlikely win in the first Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram yesterday.

With so many numbers to go around, the question is, where do we start?

Mayers and company produced one of the best Test performances in the history of the game to secure a three-wicket win that has given the regional side a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

Chasing an improbable 395 for victory, the West Indies, on the back of a superb unbeaten double hundred from Mayers, beat Bangladesh in their backyard for the first time in eight years.

It was the highest successful run chase in Asia, the fifth highest overall, and the second-highest by a West Indies team.

IMPRESSIVE DEBUTANT

Mayers’ six-hour and 55-minute vigil, which included 20 fours and seven sixes, was the highest by a debutant in a fourth innings, and the second double-century scored in Tests by a West Indian debutant, behind Jamaican Lawrence Rowe.

The left-hander shared in a critical fourth-wicket partnership with Jamaican debutant Nkrumah Bonner, who chipped in a valiant maiden Test half-century, scoring 86, as the pair resumed the fifth and final day on 110/3, with Mayers on 37 and Bonner 15. The duo then took command on the final day, putting on 216 runs, after which Mayers shared in another vital stand of 100 runs for the sixth wicket with wicketkeeper-batsman Joshua Da Silva, who made 20.

For Mayers, the superhuman effort was all down to belief and execution.

“I feel great,” Mayers said. “It was my first Test match, my highest score, and the longest I ever batted. I just believed in myself, first of all. I was very positive, no matter the situation, and I just stuck to my game plan as long as possible.”

The left-hander also had high praise for the knock and partnership with Bonner, which he said was the catalyst for the successful run-chase.

“The plan for us was to just bat,” he said. “We knew that if we took it to tea, that our team had a chance of winning the Test.”

Mayers said that he was not paying much attention to the records while at the crease, but just wanted to get his team over the line.

“Honestly, I wasn’t even watching the scoreboard,” he said. “I was just trying to bat as long as possible. The only thing that was on my mind was getting the runs.”

Mayers said he is already putting the first Test effort behind him and focusing on the next match, to try to win the series for the regional side.

“I want to take the positives from this one and try and transfer it into the next one and try and improve as much as possible, and be a good student of the game,” he said.

sports@gleanerjm.com

BANGLADESH 1st Innings 430

WEST INDIES 1st Innings 259

BANGLADESH 2nd Innings 223-8 decl.

WEST INDIES 2nd Innings

(overnight 110 for three)

*K Brathwaite c sub (Yasir Ali)

b Mehidy Hasan Miraz 20

J Campbell lbw

b Mehidy Hasan Miraz 23

S Moseley lbw

b Mehidy Hasan Miraz 12

N Bonner lbw

b Taijul Islam 86

K Mayers not out 210

J Blackwood

b Nayeem Hasan 9

+J Da Silva b Taijul Islam 20

K Roach c sub (Saif Hassan)

b Mehidy Hasan Miraz 0

R Cornwall not out 0

Extras (b11, lb4) 15

TOTAL (7 wkts, 127.3 ) 395

Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Campbell), 2-48 (Brathwaite), 3-59 (Moseley), 4-275 (Bonner), 5-292 (Blackwood), 6-392 (Da Silva), 7-394 (Roach)

Bowling: Mustafizur Rahman 13-1-71-0, Taijul Islam 45-18-91-2, Mehidy Hasan Miraz 35-3-113-4, Nayeem Hasan 34.3-4-105-1.

Result: West Indies won by three wickets.

Series: West Indies lead two-match series 1-0.

Man-of-the-Match: Kyle Mayers.

Toss: Bangladesh.

Umpires: Richard Illingworth, Sharfuddoula; TV – Gazi Sohel.