Alzarri Joseph wraps West Indies’ win with twin strikes on fifth morning

West Indies 450 for 9 dec (Greaves 115*, Louis 97, Mahmud 3-87) and 152 (Athanaze 42, Taskin 6-64, Mehidy 2-31) beat Bangladesh 269 for 9 dec (Jaker 53, A Joseph 3-69, Greaves 2-34) and 132 (Mehidy 45, Roach 3-20, Seales 3-45) by 201 runs

West Indies won their first Test at home in two-and-a-half years when they beat Bangladesh in the first Test in Antigua by 201 runs. The visitors’ chase of 334 was brought to a close at 132 for 9 on the fifth morning, just an over after Alzarri Joseph struck No. 11 Shoriful Islam on the back of his shoulder. The Bangladesh physio didn’t clear Shoriful to continue his innings, thus bringing the curtains down on the game as Shoriful retired hurt.

The hosts took seven overs to wrap things up on Tuesday. Alzarri removed Hasan Mahmud for a duck, as he was caught behind to an away-going delivery, before Jaker Ali fell lbw for 31. Jaker struck four boundaries in his 58-ball stay. Alzarri, however, continued to pepper Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam with bouncers, while the West Indies fielders also took turns in sledging the Bangladesh tailenders.

It is possible that like in the first innings, when Bangladesh had declared 181 runs behind West Indies, they decided to not continue in their second dig, fearing about their lower-order batters getting injured due to the short-ball barrage.

While the Bangladesh tail predictably folded quickly on the fifth morning, their specialist batters offered very little fight when they had started their chase on the fourth afternoon. Zakir Hasan and Mahmudul Hasan Joy fell in the first four overs, as Kemar Roach got Zakir bowled off the inside edge, similar to how Zakir had got out in the first innings. Mahmudul, too, did a similar thing, getting out like he did in the first innings, as he edged to the slips after chasing a slightly wide delivery.

Roach had then removed Shahadat Hossain with a delivery that cut through the batter, kissing his gloves as he tried to get out of the way of the big inswinger. Mominul Haque, who had survived two dropped catches off Shamar Joseph, gave Roach his third wicket via a return catch. Shamar suffered two more dropped catches off his bowling, before he had Litton Das caught at fine leg.

Captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz kept fighting despite his troubles against the short ball by making 45. Jayden Seales got him caught behind, with Joshua Da Silva taking an excellent catch. Seales then cleaned Taijul Islam up, before bad light stopped play on the fourth evening.

But it was West Indies’ batters who set the Test up, as the hosts declared at 450 for 9 in the first innings. Justin Greaves reached his maiden hundred during a patient 140-run eighth-wicket stand with Roach, who made his highest Test score of 47. They rescued the West Indies from 261 for 7 on the second morning. Bangladesh had somewhat recovered after Mikyle Louis and Alick Athanaze, who got out in the nineties on the first day, had also added 140 runs for the fourth wicket.

Bangladesh replied with similar watchfulness, though they neither had a big partnership nor a big individual knock. Jaker and Mominul made half-centuries, while Litton scored 40. Jaker and Taijul added 68 for the seventh wicket, and that helped the visitors avoid the follow-on.

They surprised West Indies on the fourth morning by declaring on 269 for 9, despite being behind by 181 runs. Taskin then ran through the West Indies line-up, taking career-best figures of 6 for 64, also his first five-for in Tests. Bangladesh’s bowlers provided hope by bowling West Indies out for 152, but their batters continued their year-long struggle with this Test.