Bangladesh beat Windies, win ODI series

After their magnificent first-ever overseas test-series victory in West Indies last week, Bangladesh again proved their worth clinching the maiden ODI series against a test nation abroad when the tigers chased down the galloping Caribbean hosts to beat them by 3 wickets at Windsor Park in Dominica Tuesday.
They were doubly crowned through making a record of chasing their highest target in more than 200 ODI matches to reach the requisite 275 runs for the first time with six balls to spare and three wickets in hand.
The previous record of Bangladesh chasing high target was 250 for 5 against Australia in Cardiff in 2005.
Earlier, Bangladesh took a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series beating former World Cup champions West Indies for the first time by 52 runs at the same venue on Sunday, also making their highest team total against the Caribbeans.
Bangladesh’s stand-in-captain Shakib Al Hasan also earned a rare honour of winning all the four consecutive international matches-two tests and two ODIs-in West Indies under his stewardship.
In the 2nd ODI Tuesday, two half-centuries from Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Ashraful trumped a maiden One-Day International hundred from Travis Dowlin, and inspired Bangladesh to a three-wicket victory over West Indies in the second ODI to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.
Shakib, the Bangladesh captain, struck 65 from 61 balls to earn the Man-of-the-Match award, and his predecessor as skipper, Ashraful, scored 64 from 77 balls.
“I can’t explain the feeling,” said Shakib, the top all-rounder of the cricket world.
“The boys have tried their best. The team has been supportive throughout the series, and so have the support staff, and we have done well,” he said.
“This was a good win though. It was much tougher. They really tested us, and they played our spinners really well,” he said.
The series concludes on Friday at Warner Park in St. Kitts, where the two sides will also contest a Twenty20 International on Sunday.
“We thought that 274 was a brilliant score,” said West Indies captain Floyd Reifer.
“Travis played really, really well for his hundred.
“We knew coming into the game with five bowlers we were taking a risk, and it did not help that we lost three of our bowlers at critical stages. But I thought we played well and put in a big effort.
“There have been a lot of positives which the guys can take from this series. It’s a young team, and we all need to be patient with them.”
But, the Tigers stumbled through their chase, after Dowlin struck an even, undefeated 100 to help West Indies post 274 for six from their allocation of 50 overs.
They made a steady start and then wobbled on 64 for two before Ashraful featured in two successive half-century stands that established the innings and put Bangladesh firmly on course.
Ashraful added 52 for the third wicket with Raqibul Hasan, and then 74 for the fourth wicket with Shakib before he was caught at long-off off leg-spinner Rawl Lewis in the 37th over with 85 still needed.
But there was plenty of drama in the closing stages, as Bangladesh would lose Shakib, Mahmudullah, and Mushfiqur Rahim, and West Indies would lose the services of key fast-bowler Kemar Roach after he bowled two beamers.
Earlier, Bangladesh, too, lost control in the closing overs of the West Indies innings.
The Tigers have cruelly exposed the limitations of the batting of the makeshift West Indies side with their spin bowling in the preceding two Tests, and the first ODI, but Dowlin flipped the script with six fours and one six in a 117-ball knock.
He reached his hundred when he steered a delivery from Syed Rasel into square cover for a single.
Dowlin had laboured 88 balls over 50 which he reached, when he swept Shakib to backward square leg for two, as the four Bangladesh spinners managed to keep things steady in the middle overs.
But Bangladesh leaked 98 runs in the last 10 overs, including 50 in the Batting Power Play between the 40th and 44th overs, to give West Indies a late boost, after they had limped to 176 for five.
Dowlin led the charge, but Rawl Lewis gathered a vital 22 from 27 balls in a sixth wicket stand of 64 from 40 balls, and Darren Sammy made a crucial 24 from 19 balls, as West Indies made 29 from the last 15 balls of the innings.

Courtesy of UNB, Dhaka