West Indies seal 1-0 series win over Bangladesh

West Indies have ended a calendar year unbeaten in a Test series for the first time since 1994, after the second Test against Bangladesh ended in a draw at Sylhet on Monday.

Chasing an unlikely target of 369 on the final day,  Bangladesh had reached 184 for four when bad light brought play to a close after tea. At that point Litton Das was unbeaten on seven and Mehidy Hasan Miraz on one.

Earlier player of the match Towhid Hridoy top scored with 82, following his mammoth first innings score of 242 not out. His second-innings knock came off 140 deliveries and featured eight fours. Mushfiqur Rahim added 49 while West Indies vice captain and player of the series Jomel Warrican took three wickets for 44 runs to end the tour with a total of 16 wickets.

Jomel Warrican was named Player-of-the-Series after taking 16 wickets. (Photo by: AFP/Getty Images/CWI)

Warrican is also only the second left-arm spinner after Alf Valentine to reach 100 wickets for West Indies.

Resuming the day in a strong position at 345 for three, West Indies declared at 398 for six.

Unbeaten on 140 overnight, Kavem Hodge was dismissed early in the morning for 142, while Amir Jangoo added 39 not out, having begun the day on 20.

Justin Greaves made nine and Shamar Joseph one, while Joshua Bishop was left unbeaten on 20.

For Bangladesh, Nayeem Hasan took two for 72, Mehidy Hasan Miraz two for 85 and Taijul Islam two for 118.

Speaking after the game, West Indies captain Roston Chase declared himself very happy with the series result.

“Obviously Bangladesh is always a tough place to come and play cricket, so to beat them in their own backyard is always a pleasure.We wanted to win both games, but it didn’t happen.

“This game was a bit slower than the first one especially with all the bad light taking time out of the game, so it made it a bit even harder for us to win, but I thought that we still played well and kudos to the guys for winning the series,” Chase said.

The West Indies skipper, however, admitted that the regional side would have preferred to complete the series sweep.

“We came here to win both games to see if we could move up to number six in the test rankings.I thought we were in a great position to push for a win, but I thought Hridoy also played a great innings, and that’s what test cricket is about.

“Sometimes you think that you’re in a commanding position and then someone comes and does something spectacular, so that’s all in the game,” Chase explained.

Reflecting on the West Indies overall fortunes during the calendar year, Chase put the results down to hard work by his team. He also believes the regional side is on the right trajectory.

“We won two out of three series so I thought that it was a good year and also we were unbeaten in any series. This is something that hasn’t been done for a number of years.

“It just goes to show that when you sit down and plan and you put in the hard work, anything is achievable. I think that we’re going in the right direction as a team. I think it’s a good time for some guys to go back home and work on some areas that we may have fallen down in, in individual aspects of the game,” Chase concluded.

(KH)