Half-centuries from Man-of-the-match Jashim Uddin and Mossadek Hossain Saikat, reinforced by Javed Ferdous Rahuttul’s five-wicket haul, powered Bangladesh to a 63-run win over the West Indies, levelling the seven-match One Day International Under-19 series 1-1, at the Georgetown Cricket Club’s Bourda ground, yesterday.
Observed by a proportionate fan base featuring school children and the more seasoned cricket lovers, the tourists, who played haplessly in the first ODI,
bounced back with confidence winning the toss and racking up a defendable 259 for 7 from their 50 overs, courtesy of Saikat’s classy 70, the Vice-captain Uddin’s mature 63, Nazmul Hasan Shanto’s vital 42 and Rahutul’s 5 for 55, which destroyed an out-of-sorts looking West Indies team.
After a relatively slow start and chasing a much steeper target than what they chased in the first ODI, the West Indians slumped in their chase and were eventually restricted to 196 for 9 from their allotted 50 overs.
Trinidadian Jeremy Solozano top scored with 44 while Jofra Archer chipped in with 35. Guyana’s Tagenarine Chanderpaul made a patient 25 while identical scores of 21 came from Shimron Hetemyer and Tarrick Coleman.
Bangladesh Opener Joyraj Emon (1), continuing his poor run was caught by wicket-keeper Coleman off the bowling of Jerome Jones but Sadman Anik played confidently for his 23 before being caught off the first ball of left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai’s first over.
After 10 overs Bangladesh were 69 for 2 with the pair of Saikat and Uddin looking solid, taking the team’s score past the 100-run mark inside 18 overs. After a boundary-less 10 over period, Saikat finally broke the chains by cutting Motie-Kanhai through the backward-point region.
Uddin continued to play aggressively and brought up his half-century in the 25th over as the Bangladeshis took their score to 129 for 2 at the half way mark. They then pressed on the accelerator taking the score past 150 in 30 overs, before the vice-skipper was trapped lbw by Bryan Charles.
Saikat, after playing within himself brought up his half-century off 99 balls as Bangladesh crept closer to a formidable score and, along with Shanto, eventually took their team to 200 in the 43rd over.
An incorrectly timed pull shot saw the demise of Saikat who was caught on the mid-wicket boundary by Archer giving Charles his second wicket. The skipper Mehedi Hasan Miraj (4) then edged a delivery to Coleman behind the stumps off the bowling of Archer.
Shanto, after exquisitely driving Jones through the covers, was bowled the next ball and his wicket was followed by the dismissal of Abu Saeed Sarker for 4. Securely set on 249 for 7, Abu Haider Rony (8) and Rahuttul (3), both not out, held their bats through to the end.
Motie-Kanhai had the best economy rate of 1 for 32 from his quota of 10 overs but Charles grabbed 2 for 40, Jones 2 for 60 and Archer 2 for 48.
Chasing a target of 260 and a second consecutive win, opener and Man of the match of the opening game Leroy Lugg (1), went early after edging a delivery from Saeed to wicket-keeper Uddin. Despite the loss of an early wicket Tagenarine Chanderpaul opened the boundary account with a back-foot square drive in the same over, and along with Solozano, picked up the singles and two’s and caressed a few boundaries in the process as they brought of the team’s half-century mark in the 20th over.
But, after a painstaking 70-run partnership from 24.1 overs, Solozano was caught and bowled by the opposition Captain Miraj. An eventful period saw wicket-keeper Coleman being dropped in the deep, followed by the departure of Chanderpaul who was bowled around his legs by Rahuttul.
With the score 84 for 3, the aggressive Hetemyer walked out to the middle and immediately opened his account with a powerful boundaries down the ground. A few shots later from the two batters saw the Windies bringing up the team’s score to three figures.
Then came an eventful over. Hetemyer struck the first delivery of a new over from Rahuttul for a six but was dropped by the skipper off the second ball.
He, however did not make full use of the opportunity and was dismissed off the third ball of the over as the skipper made up for his error. Hetemeyer struck a four and two sixes.
Rahuttul then claimed his second wicket when he had Coleman (21), stumped by Uddin. Fabian Allen (3) was caught by Saikat off the bowling of Zubair Hossain Likhon and Jones (17) and McSween (1) fell in quick succession as the Windies slipped to 182 for 8.
Archer, after playing a good lower-order hand, was caught by Miraj becoming Rahutul’s fifth victim and it was curtains for the Caribbean team when the 50 overs were expired, leaving Motie-Kanhai (7) and Charles (6) stranded.
Saikat I for 10, Saeed 1 for 8, Nehad 1 for 29 and Likhon 1 for 31, lent support to the destructive Rahuttul,
The third match which is set to return to the Guyana National Stadium, Providence tomorrow and should be an exciting encounter with both teams having so far secured wins under their belts.
