WI sweep series after easy win in second Test

GROS ISLET, St Lucia (CMC):

A dominant West Indies needed only 70 minutes to complete a resounding 10-wicket victory and a 2-0 series sweep of Bangladesh, and post their third win in five Tests this year while remaining unbeaten.

A wet outfield stemming from overnight and early morning showers at the Daren Sammy National Stadium had threatened to wreck the penultimate day after forcing an abandonment of the first two sessions.

However, once play started at 3 pm, West Indies wasted little time in bundling the Tigers out for 186 and then easily knocking off the 13 runs required.

For the hosts, the series win was their second straight on the back of the result against England last March, and also marked their eighth against Bangladesh in 10 series.

“I think the confidence in the guys, especially from the first game, was high,” said captain Kraigg Brathwaite.

“But I was really happy with the group – [especially] the planning [and] how we went about planning and then executing. I was really happy with that, especially the batsmen.

“Kyle Mayers [got] a chance to bat and I think the partnership with him and Jermaine Blackwood was superb and that really set up the game.

“I thought Bangladesh’s bowlers really bowled well throughout the game, the pacers and Mehidy (Hasan Miraz) obviously had a very long spell and very good [spell]. But it was good to see the fight we showed and I was proud of the boys.”

Bangladesh have now lost 11 of their last 15 Tests and captain Shakib-al-Hasan said an upcoming five-month break would be a critical period for the squad to reassess.

“We always knew it would be a tough series, especially in the Test format. We are trying our best and I think they’re lot of positives we can take from this series,” he said.

“We need to make sure we [start doing] something that will win us a Test match. We have a long break [now] so we’ll have a chance to think about all those areas which need to improve and hopefully, we can work on them during those five months and get better at it.”

Resuming on 132 for six, Bangladesh were undermined by Jayden Seales (3-21) who grabbed two of the four wickets to fall, and fellow fast bowler Alzarri Joseph (3-57) who added another wicket to his tally to finish with a series-topping 12 scalps.

Nurul Hasan top-scored with an unbeaten 60 after picking up from his overnight 16. The plucky wicketkeeper batsman lashed half-dozen fours and two sixes in a breezy 50-ball knock but it served only to delay the inevitable as wickets fell steadily around him.

Mehidy, yet to score on resumption, edged a short ball from Joseph behind and Ebadot Hossain followed without scoring, fending off another short delivery from Seales, to be brilliantly taken by Raymon Reifer at short leg.

Seales then hit Shoriful Islam in front without scoring and John Campbell threw down the stumps at the non-striker’s end from cover point to find Khaled Ahmed well short of his ground, after the number 11 advanced too far from his crease looking for a single.