Cricket
Mohammad Isam, Bangladesh correspondent, ESPNcricinfo 5y

Bangladesh find support roles for old-timers, West Indies look to fix fielding woes

Ireland Tri Series, Cricket

With the tri-series in Dublin done and dusted, ESPNcricinfo delves into the takeaways for Bangladesh and West Indies heading into the World Cup.

Bangladesh

There's fight outside the big five

Soumya Sarkar finished as Bangladesh's top scorer with his three consecutive fifties, while Mosaddek Hossain struck five sixes to clinch the trophy for Bangladesh from a difficult position. Mustafizur Rahman showed glimpses of old form with a four-wicket haul and Mehidy Hasan kept a tight leash on things on flat pitches. Liton Das and Mohammad Mithun, too, looked in good touch.

For a team that has for long relied on Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah, there couldn't have been a better time for others to stand up.

Mosaddek, Jayed show signs of form

It was interesting that those in the preliminary World Cup squad - Mosaddek, Abu Jayed and Liton - were under more scrutiny than those outside. Ultimately, the trio impressed so much that the Bangladesh team management couldn't give a single opportunity to the four extra players they had in the squad - Taskin Ahmed, Farhad Reza, Yasir Ali and Nayeem Hasan.

After his series-winning knock, Mosaddek is now in contention for a spot in the playing XI for their first game against South Africa on June 2. Jayed's 5 for 58 against Ireland, where he relied on more than just his primary skill of being able to swing the new ball, came as a further source of encouragement.

Death bowling remains a concern

Bangladesh have to reconsider their death-bowling options. With Rubel Hossain not being picked too regularly, the reliable partnership he shared with Mustafizur has been broken. Furthermore, with the exception of the four-for in the second match against West Indies, Mustafizur himself was slightly off-colour. However, they will be encouraged by the improvement shown by Mohammad Saifuddin in that phase of the game.

Mashrafe and Shakib are the team's most reliable bowlers and end up bowling short spells in various phases of an innings. Perhaps, there's a case for saving a couple of extra overs from them for the death. But that won't always be possible, and given that Mehidy is best utilised during the middle overs, Bangladesh need more consistency from Mustafizur and Saifuddin.

West Indies

Hope's remarkable consistency

Shai Hope's remarkable run that saw him string together scores of 170, 109, 30, 87 and 74 in five innings reinforced his reliability. As the team's most consistent batsman in the last 12 months, Hope will once again be the one to depend on going into the World Cup.

Bravo, Allen's form in question

Darren Bravo and Fabian Allen didn't make much of a contribution during the tri-series. Owing to handsome opening stands, Bravo didn't have much of an opportunity in the first match and the final, but in the three matches in between, he came in in the 17th, 13th and sixth overs, but managed only a total of 24 runs.

Allen, on the other hand, took his first ODI wicket in his seventh game, the final against Bangladesh. But far from building on that, he conceded 25 off his fourth over with Bangladesh requiring 27 to win from three overs. After that, it was a romp.

Fielding errors mount for West Indies

What stuck out like a sore thumb during this tri-series, especially under pressure, was their fielding errors. Dropped catches, wild throws and balls going through fielders were so common that captain Jason Holder mentioned it at tosses and the post-match presentations. West Indies were consistently let down by their fielding just when their bowlers managed to put together a good spell or take a wicket against the run of play, and it is something they can ill afford in the World Cup.

Places up for grabs?

Among those pushing for places ahead of the May 23 deadline are batsmen Sunil Ambris and John Campbell, and allrounder Raymon Reifer. Ambris looked in fine touch throughout the tri-series, Campbell impressed with his 170 against Ireland in the tournament opener before being sidelined by a back injury, and Reifer was the pick of the bowlers in the final with 2 for 23.

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