The Report by Mohammad Isam
ESPNcricinfo
Nurul Hasan held up West Indies’ march towards the 1-0 lead for more than 90 minutes on the third day in Antigua, but eventually fell to give the hosts an innings and 219-run win shortly before lunch. Shannon Gabriel finished with his fifth five-wicket haul while Jason Holder and Miguel Cummins shared the other five.
So effective they were that the hosts didn’t miss Kemar Roach, who didn’t bowl in the second innings because of a hamstring niggle. By finishing the Test the way they did, West Indies may have given their strike bowler valuable time to recover ahead of the second Test starting July 12 in Jamaica.
This game was Bangladesh’s second shortest in terms of balls faced. In the last 66 years, the 59 overs that Bangladesh faced were the least a side faced in being bowled out twice.
Nurul’s enterprising 64 was one of very few high notes for Bangladesh in a disappointing Test. It is the fastest half-century for a Bangladeshi overseas. He struck six fours and two sixes in his 74-ball knock, a majority of which came during the course of his 55-run ninth-wicket stand with Rubel Hossain. This was also Bangladesh’s best partnership of the match.
Nurul batted with positivity, riding the bounce to tackle short deliveries and being picky with full balls. Five of his six fours came behind the wicket, one of which was a clever ramp off a steep bouncer. His two sixes were more conventional: a loft over long-off off Gabriel and a pull over deep midwicket off Devendra Bishoo.
Mahmudullah fell off the first legal delivery of the day to set the tone for the downfall. The Jason Holder delivery pitched at length on off and squared the batsman up to take the edge that was well taken in the slips. Kamrul Islam Rabbi took a number of blows to his body, as well as one on his helmet, before Gabriel blasted his stumps to complete his five-wicket haul.
Summarized scores: Bangladesh 43 (Liton 25, Roach 5-8) and 144 (Nurul 64, Gabriel 5-77) lost to West Indies 406 (Brathwaite 121, Hope 67, Smith 58, Jayed 3-84) by an innings and 219 runs