Bangladesh A salvaged some pride by beating the West Indies High Performance Team by 9 wickets in the last game of the one-day series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
The match, which lasted for a total of 26.4 overs, saw the visiting side get bowled out for just 54 runs. The hosts romped home in just 8.4 overs as youngsters Anamul Haque and Mominul Haque hit a flurry of boundaries to finish the game before the lunch time. The victory, however, was just a mere consolation for the hosts as they lost the series by two games to one.
Electing to bat, the West Indians were in trouble right from the go as they lost both their openers in the first over of the game. Andre Fletcher was run out on the second ball of the innings, while his partner Trevon Griffith was caught in front off Abul Hasan, who joined the side after his stint with the national team in Sri Lanka.
Hasan struck again as he got the crucial wicket of Keddy Lesporis, who was caught by Mominul in the deep. The visitors lost their next seven wickets for just 30 odd runs and looked like a completely different batting unit, as compared to their performance in the first two games. Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Naeem Islam and Enamul Haque Junior took two wickets each as they collectively ran through the batting order.
The manner in which the young West Indian side, which contains only a couple of players with international experience and boasts an average age of around 23, adjusted to the sub-continental conditions and went on to defeat a senior Bangladesh outfit should, without any doubt, ring the alarm bells in the Bangladesh Cricket Board.
Admitting that the A team’s performance was below-par, national chief selector Akram Khan, stated that the players in the team have the potential to perform much better.
“There wasn’t any extraordinary performance by any player. Yes, there were a few good individual performances, but I expected many others to do well,” said Akram.
Naeem, who has been fighting to regain his spot in the national team, was one such player who performed consistently both with bat and the ball in the series and Akram took notice of that.
“Yes, he [Naeem] has been consistent thus far. He had a good tour in India as well. But there are some criteria for selection. The players’ performances in the upcoming National Cricket League will be a major factor,” he added.
The teams will now face off in two twenty20 games that are scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday. The following are the players selected to play in the two-match series:
SCORES IN BRIEF
WEST INDIES HP: 54 all out in 18 overs (Lesporis 15, Cariah 11; Naeem 2-5, Enamul 2-9)
BANGLADESH A: 55 for 1 in 8.4 overs: (Anamul 23, Mominul 25; Permaul 1-18)
Result: Bangladesh A won by nine wickets.
T20 SQUAD
Imrul Kayes, Anamul Haque, Soumya Sarker, Ziaur Rahman, Shabbir Rahman, Abul Hasan, Farhad Reza, Arafat Sunny, Namzul Hossain Apu, Shamsur Rahman, Naeem Islam, Marshal Ayub, Muktar Ali.
-With The Daily Star input
