West Indies wasted no time in losing more than five hours to seal a 10-wicket win over Bangladesh on the fourth day of the second and final Test in St Lucia on Monday.
Frustrated by an overnight torrential downpour, which left a gloomy outfield and halted play until mid-afternoon, the home side resumed the visitors after scoring 186 in their second innings despite an entertaining, unbeaten 60 by Nurul Hasan. After he claimed the last four wickets fast. In an already precarious position of 132 for six.
This left captain Craig Brathwaite and opening partner John Campbell with the formality of scoring the 13 runs needed to win in less than three overs for another comprehensive win and a 2-0 sweep of the series.
“After winning the first Test, our confidence in this match was very high,” Brathwaite said.
“There is always room for improvement but it was nice to see the way we came back from a difficult situation against Bangladesh bowlers on the second day.
“It’s especially happy to see our plans come to fruition now because we know it’s going to be very difficult for our next Test series in Australia at the end of the year, but we are confident that we can do a good fight there,” he said. can,” he said. ,
It extended the West Indies Test match winning streak to three matches after a series-winning victory over England at the end of the series in Grenada three months earlier.
Kyle Meyers, whose 146 was 148 in West Indies’ first innings total, won both the Man of the Match and Man of the Series awards.
Any fear of being disappointed by Bangladesh’s lower-order resistance came to an end within minutes of the start of the game as Alzarri Joseph caught Mehdi Hasan Miraj behind the fence in a lifting delivery.
Nurul, impressed by a second innings century in a seven-wicket loss in the first Test in Antigua a week ago, got into white-ball position with a succession of exceptional shots, his unbeaten half-century just off 50 balls embellished with six fours and two sixes. .
Yet even when he was on strike, the wicketkeeper-batsman was powerless to prevent the demise of his teammates as Jaden Seals removed Abadot Hossain and Shorful Islam, while the last man was run out with a direct hit from Khalid Ahmed Campbell. Had gone. The striker’s end to end another usually meek Bangladesh batting effort.
Joseph, Seals and Kemar Roach took three wickets each in the innings.
For Shakib Al Hasan, who returned to the role of captain after a long hiatus from the Test side, the experience opened his eyes to the possibilities.
“We have got a long break before our next Test series, so we need to take positives, especially the encouraging performance of our fast bowlers, and make sure we are ready in five months.
“We need to be mentally strong in our batting to compete with the best teams in the world, but our biggest improvement in the last three-four years has been with our fast bowlers.
“So while the fast bowlers are working really hard and getting results, we need to improve overall as a team to be more competitive in Test cricket away from home.”
Both sides have now adjusted to the white-ball formats with a three-match T20I series starting next Sunday in Dominica, after which they will meet in three One Day Internationals.
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