SAVAR, Bangladesh, CMC – Test left-hander Brendan Nash missed out on a century as the second four-day “Test” between Bangladesh A and West Indies A remained evenly poised after the second day yesterday.
Unbeaten on 74 not out overnight, the Australia-born batsman was left stranded on 99 with Windies A all out for 268 after resuming at 230 for seven at the BKSP Ground.
At the close, Bangladesh A were 205 for five thanks to half-centuries from captain Nazimuddin (72) and Faisal Hossain (64 not out).
Looking to add precious runs at the start, West Indies A failed to find the partnerships needed to push their total over 300.
Nash, warming up for the three-Test series against South Africa back in the Caribbean, struck eight fours in an innings that spanned 201 balls and 283 minutes overall.
Gavin Tonge (9) lasted just over half an hour with him before succumbing after sharing 27 for the eighth wicket. After he fell, however, Odean Brown (2) and Nelon Pascal (0) departed quickly to leave Nash stranded.
Left-arm fast bowler Syed Rasel (5-59) and left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo (5-85) shared the wickets to fall. West Indies A were off to a great start when fast bowler Pascal got rid of Shahriar Nafees with just the third ball of the innings with one run on the board.
Nazimuddin and Mehrab Hossain then hauled Bangladesh A around with a partnership of 73 for the second wicket, keeping the Windies A bowlers at bay.
While the right-handed Nazimuddin struck 12 fours off 123 balls in 157 minutes, the left-handed Mehrab hit five fours off 59 balls.
When Mehrab gave off-spinner Shane Shillingford his only wicket of the day, the innings went into a slump as leg-spinner Odean Brown snatched two quick wickets.
Faisal Hossain and Saghir Hossain then combined in a face-saving, unbroken 75-run stand for the sixth wicket to halt the slide.
Faisal counter-attacked in a cameo, unbeaten 64 which contained six fours and four sixes off 99 balls while Saghir played the supporting role with 26 not out off 78 balls in just over an hour and a half at the crease.
