Bangladesh won the One-Day International series against the West Indies by convincingly winning the fifth One-Day match by two wickets. Bangladesh won the first, second and fifth games, the West Indies won the third and fourth.
West Indies batting very disappointing. Bangladesh won the toss in the fifth and final One-Day International match and gave first strike to the West Indies on a hard batting paradise. Unfortunately for the West Indies, after five overs they were struggling at 17 runs for 3 wickets. Kieron Powell, Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels were back in the dressing room. Some courageous efforts from Darren Bravo and Kieron Pollard with a partnership of 132 runs brought the West Indies back into the game, but 217 runs all out from 48 overs were just not enough. Pollard scored 85 runs from 74 balls, which included eight sixes and five fours. Bravo struck 51 and wicket keeper Devon Thomas 25.
Kemar Roach struck early wickets
Inspite of three quick early wickets that saw Bangladesh at 30 for 3, they held on and continued to put runs on the board thanks to their dependable and well decorated middle-order batting.
Mahmudullah and Captain Mushfiqur Rahim Lead the Way
Some patient and intelligent batting by the inform Mahmudullah and Captain Mushfiqur Rahim with a partnership of 91 runs brought their team back into the game. They batted sensibly without any major risks, which actually was correct chasing a modest total of 218 to win off 50 overs. Mahmudullah scored 48 and captain Mushfiqur Rahim 44, both of them were bowled by right arm spinner Sunil Narine. At 121 for four Bangladesh were not in any major trouble for their batting run all the way to number 10. Nasir Hoseain with 39 not out, Mominul Haque 25 and number eight batsman Sohag Gazi 19 brought their team home safely at 221 for 8 after 44 overs. Captain Rahim was named Man of the Series and Mahmudullah, Man of the March. Kemar Roach ended with 5 wickets for 56 runs off 9 overs while Sunil Narine picked up 3 wickets for 38 runs. Darren Sammy, Veerasammy Permaul and Andre Russell were wicketless. A crowd of 24,034 spectators attended the game including Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina.
International Exposure
Devon Thomas has good potential but he needs to play more international cricket and get much more exposure. Throughout the One-Day series, Thomas showed that he lacked the knowledge of what to do when batting against the spinners. In any case, this kind of a five-match series were good for him to develop his skills.
Andre Russell at Four Would be Quite Appropriate
Andre Russell would do well at the fourth position in the One-Day game instead of having him come in at the eighth position. Darren Bravo is very slow at getting the ball away in the One-Day game, so he can comfortable move down to fifth or sixth position. Russell’s cricket can be boosted if he is placed higher in the batting order. It is questionable why Johnson Charles was not on this tour with the One-Day squad in Bangladesh. He was surely missed in the higher batting order. Charles and Samuels would have been a great combination in these One-Day games because they both possess aggressive tactics, which are useful in One-Day Internationals. West Indies has to regroup and come back winning. They played outstanding in the Test series.
