Clinical Tigers’ comprehensive start in tri-series

Banglaldesh chased down their 262-run target with ease as they won by eight wickets against West Indies during their first one-day International of the tri-nation series at Clontarf Cricket Ground in Dublin on Tuesday.

Bangladesh top orders did a solid job as all four scored substantially. Openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Saker gave a perfect base with a 146-run opening stand while Shakib al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim finished the match with ease forming a unbeaten 68-run stand in the unbroken third wicket. 

In the opening stand, Tamim was sedate while Soumya was his fluent best before he was ultimately caught in the deep by an acrobatic Darron Bravo off a Roston Chase delivery in the 26th over. 

Soumya missed a well-deserved ton but his 73 off 68 balls with nine boundaries and a six provided a lot of hope for a long British tour of Bangladesh. 

Tamim also missed his century as he was caught by Jason Holder in the bowling of Shannon Gabriel scoring 80 from 116 balls. Moreover, after the big opening stand, he formed another crucial 52-run stand with one-down Shakib to make sure the Tigers not losing their way in the chase. 

Bangladesh reached their target within five overs to spare and eight wickets in hand. Shakib was unbeaten on a run-a-ball 61 while Mushfiqur Rahim not out on 32. 

 Earlier, West Indies captain Jason Holder won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Shai Hope and Sunil Ambrise made a solid start as they made an 89-run stand before the latter was dismissed for 39. 

Bangladesh got rid of one-down Darren Bravo cheaply for 1 but Hope and Roston Chase formed a 115 -run partnership in the fourth wicket to put their side in the driving seat.

Hope, who scored a big century in the first match of the tournament against Ireland, scored another ton, his third consecutive one against Tigers, kept his rich vein of form as he made 109 before Mashrafe Mortaza dislodged him in the 43rd over.

Mashrafe picked up Chase, who made 51, two overs earlier and Jason Holder two balls later to halt the Windies progress. 

In the end the Bangladesh skipper returned with a figure of 3/49 and played the most crucial role to restrict the opponents way short of 300-run mark that once looked easily achievable by the Caribbean side. 

Hope breaks Viv’s record

West Indies opener Shai Hope continued his great run of form against Bangladesh as the right-handed opener picked up his third consecutive century against the Tigers on Tuesday. Hope batted confidently from the beginning and nicely constructed his innings throughout. Hope completed his century in the last ball of 39th over by hitting a boundary through cover against Saifuddin. In his previous two innings against Bangladesh Hope scored an unbeaten 146 not out in Dhaka in second ODI and 108 not out in the third ODI in Sylhet back in December 2018. During the innings Hope crossed 2000-run milestone in his ODI career in just 47 innings. It was a record for West Indies surpassing the record of their legendary batsman Sir Vivian Richards who took 48 innings to reach the milestone. Hope eventullay scored 109 runs off 132 deliveries with 11 fours and one six at Clontarf.

 Spinners check the run rate in middle overs

West Indies made a good partnership in their opening stand as Sunil Ambris and Shei Hope formed 89 in 16.1 overs. Mehedi Hasan Miraz gave the breakthrough for Tigers in the 17th over as Mahmudullah took a good catch in the cover region to remove Ambris. Shakib got rid of Darren Bravo in the very next over and Tigers got back on track with two quick wickets. Both Miraz and Shakib bowled with good line and length in the middle part and checked the run rate. Miraz and Shakib bowled 20 overs between them and conceded just 71 runs in total getting one wicket each.

Brief Score:

West Indies 261-9, 50 overs (S Hope 109, R Chase 51; Mashrafe Mortaza 3-49)

Bangladesh 264-2, 45 overs (Tamim Iqbal 80, Soumya Sarkar 73, Shakib Al Hasan 61 no)

Result: Bangladesh won by eight wickets