Bangladesh register historic test win against West Indies their first away from home
Bangladeshu00a0register historic test win against West Indiesu00a0their first away from homeMahmudullah completed a memorable debut Test, when he cruelly exposed West Indies' frailty to spin, and bowled Bangladesh to a historic 95-run victory in the opening Test here yesterday.
The 23-year-old off-spinner captured five wickets for 51 runs from 15 overs, as West Indies, chasing 277 for victory, were dismissed for 181 in their second innings about 20 minutes before the scheduled close on the fifth and final day at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.
Shakib Al Hasan formalised Bangladesh's second Test victory ever, when he trapped Tino Best lbw plumb in front for nine with a dipping full toss, and ended with three wickets for 39 runs from 28.1 overs.
The result means that Bangladesh lead the two-Test series 1-0 with the final match set to start on Friday in Grenada.
Bangladesh's victory which came about 4-1/2 years after their solitary Test win against Zimbabwe on home soil in Chittagong was made more remarkable because their new captain and primary fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza spent the entire West Indies innings off the field nursing a knee injury he aggravated earlier in the match.
"I feel much better now following this victory," said Mortaza. "Special thanks to Shakib for deputising for me, and the way he handled the side.
"It was probably a blessing in disguise when we got bowled out (on Monday morning) which gave us more time. We were looking to bat until lunch and get a lead of about 300 or more, but we lost our last five wickets quickly.
"But we have good spinners like Shakib and Mahmudullah and they bowled really well, so special thanks to them and the rest of the bowlers because we were operating one bowler short because of my injury u00e2u0080u0094 and we still won."
Bangladesh had pressed their claims almost from the start of the West Indies innings, and had restricted the hosts to 66 for two at lunch.
They got the breakthrough quite fortuitously, when Raqibul Hasan ran Dale Richards out for 14 with a direct hit from gully, after umpire Asoka de Silva turned down an lbw appeal from Shahadat Hossain, and Richards sauntered out of his crease.
There was further success for Bangladesh, when Shakib had left-hander Omar Phillips lbw for 14 to leave West Indies 33 for two, but the Tigers could make no further headway, as West Indies captain Floyd Reifer joined Travis Dowlin, and they batted out the remainder of the session.
By tea, Bangladesh had a strong scent of victory, after Mahmudullah and Shakib shared four wickets in the afternoon session to leave West Indies wobbling on 128 for six.
