Bangladesh are planning to do something extra-ordinary as they seek to end the ongoing West Indies tour with a positive result in the second Test, beginning at St Lucia from today. The Tigers, still winless in the series, are inspired by the wicket at the Beausejour stadium, which produced draws in all three Tests held here in its brief history, a clear indication of its batsmen-friendly nature.
The game carries an extra significance as it is the 500th Test of
West Indies, the third country to reach the milestone after England and Australia.
West Indies, who are playing Test cricket since 1928, have planned a grand celebration, which included a reception for Julian Hunte, the former president of the West Indies Cricket Board and a former foreign minister of St Lucia.
Fans were given special discount tickets on a ‘buy one, get one’ basis as the hosts looked desperate to bring some crowd to see them playing such a historic game.
Bangladesh, however, said they are determined to be a party spoiler, something which is also badly needed to lift their morale ahead of a crucial home series against Zimbabwe in October.
‘It’s a kind of occasion, we always cherish,’ said skipper Mushfiqur Rahim. ‘Definitely our players will be extra motivated to do something special as this is a historic match. We have our own motivation too as we drew the last time we played here.’
From the experience of their previous Test match here in 2004 and the past history of the ground, Mushfiq said they are thinking to bring a change to the team’s strategy with an extra bowler in the playing eleven.
Opening batsman Imrul Kayes was already ruled out with a skin disease, making a Test return for Anamul Haque obvious. Mushfiq indicated they could drop either Nasir Hossain or Shubhagata Hom to accommodate the extra bowler in the line-up.
‘It looks like a good batting wicket. So you may need an extra option to get the opponents dismissed,’ said Mushfiq. ‘It’s always difficult to play with the pressure of 500 runs than 300 or 350 runs.’
Pace bowler Robiul Islam could join the starting line-up as an additional bowler provided the team management chops a batsman, who in all likelihood could be Nasir.
Change is imminent in West Indies line-up as opening batsman Chris Gayle pulled out for a personal reason. He was replaced by Leon Jonson, a 27-year old batsman from Guyana, who is yet to win a Test cap.
‘It’s a very special occasion for us and we are looking forward to this,’ said West Indies captain Denesh Ramdin.
‘But we don’t want to think too much about it. Play the simple cricket and hopefully the bowlers will get the job done,’
Ramdin is hopeful that the wicket will provide some assistance to his bowlers enabling them to produce a result.
‘Based on my experience in domestic limited-over cricket, here I can say the wicket will have lot of carry. And types of cricket that two teams play, I am sure we will see a result here,’ he added.
-With New Age input
