West Indies v Bangladesh, 1st ODI, St Vincent
Bradshaw spares West Indies' blushes
Wisden Cricinfo staff
May 15, 2004
West Indies 145 for 9 (Powell 52) beat Bangladesh 144 for 8 (Rafique 32*, Mashud 30*, Best 4-35) by one wicket
Scorecard
West Indies scraped their way to an unconvincing one-wicket win in the opening one-dayer against Bangladesh in St Vincent. After Bangladesh laboured their way to 144 for 8 from 50 overs, thanks mainly to a reviving ninth-wicket stand of 62 between Khaled Mashud and Mohammad Rafique, West Indies made a meal of knocking off the runs, and only just made it.
Play was delayed for 15 minutes after some overnight rain, but once the captains tossed, Ramnaresh Sarwan had no hesitation in putting Bangladesh in, and that paved the way for Tino Best to make a spectacular start to his one-day international career. Best took consecutive wickets with the third and fourth balls of the match, but missed out on the hat-trick.
The two men to go were Shahriar Hossain, caught by Chris Gayle at first slip, and Habibul Bashar, the captain, who played a horrible swipe across the line to be trapped lbw. Manjural Islam Rana was lbw to Fidel Edwards in the following over, and Bangladesh had staggered to 5 for 3.
Rajin Saleh and Mohammad Ashraful then made a recovery of sorts, putting on 40 before Ashraful nicked Edwards to Ridley Jacobs for 17 (43 for 4), then Saleh was caught behind off Ian Bradshaw for 20 (51 for 5). Alok Kapali stuck around for a while until he was caught by Best off Bradshaw (52 for 6), and that temporarily let the floodgates open again.
Best returned to bowl, and bounced out Mushfiqur Rahman, who fended a lifter to Sylvester Joseph in the slips (79 for 7). Khaled Mahmud was then beaten by pace, chopping Best onto his stumps for a duck. At that stage, Bangladesh were in all sorts of bother at 82 for 8, but Mashud and Rafique rescued them with a steady partnership to give Bangladesh some respectability, and in the end, what turned out to be almost a winning total.
West Indian hopes that Gayle might produce one of his whirlwind innings to wrap up the game quickly were dashed when he was caught behind off Tapash Baisya for a duck (7 for 1). Joseph, in at No. 3, didn't last long either, as he was also caught by Mashud, off the bowling of Mahmud, for 7 (46 for 2). Shivnarine Chanderpaul couldn't impose any authority on the bowling, and after a struggle he was trapped in front by Manjural Islam Rana for 15 (81 for 3).
Ricardo Powell was the only top-order batsman to master the bowling, scoring 52 from 64 balls, with six fours. But just as he was looking to accelerate, he was bowled by the impressive Mahmud (83 for 4). Sarwan played positively and eased West Indian nerves with two fours and a six, but Bangladesh refused to lie down, and Sarwan was caught by Rahman off Saleh for 22 (119 for 5).
The wickets kept on coming. Dwayne Smith was stumped off Manjural for 2, Ridley Jacobs was run out (again by Manjural), then Dwayne Bravo was also caught short of his crease, all in the space of three overs. West Indies had lurched to 126 for 8, and that simple stroll to victory was threatening to go way off course.
West Indies still required 19 for victory, with only two wickets left - and Best was then lbw to Manjural, playing across a straight one. Bangladesh sensed a famous victory, but Bradshaw and Edwards kept their cool. Bradshaw eased the tension with a six over midwicket off Saleh, and he and Edwards scrambled West Indies home with one wicket and 20 balls to spare.
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