Stumps West Indies 223 for 5 (Bonner 74*, Da Silva 22*, Jayed 2-46, Taijul 2-64) vs Bangladesh
The first day of the second Test in Dhaka would make neither side too happy. But neither would it make them too sad.
West Indies had the opportunity to dominate after lunch, having made 84 for 1 in the morning session. Their early advantage dissipated when Bangladesh's seam bowlers struck thrice in a post-lunch session that saw only 62 runs scored. But after tea, West Indies' middle order displayed enough grit to absorb everything Bangladesh threw at them, restoring parity to the contest after 90 overs. At stumps, the visitors finished day one on 223 for 5, the least number of runs scored on the first day of any Test at the venue.
There were three stars on the day. Nkrumah Bonner, unbeaten on 74, was West Indies' rescuer-in-chief. Swing bowler Abu Jayed (2 for 46) - who replaced Mustafizur Rahman in the XI - was the stand-out quick. And left-arm orthodox spinner Taijul Islam (2 for 64) earned his rewards by exerting control and ensuring pressure was never released from one end.
After West Indies opted to bat, openers Kraigg Brathwaite (47) and John Campbell (36) put on 66 for the first wicket, with the latter doing the bulk of the scoring in the partnership. With Brathwaite holding up one end, Campbell was more attacking, hitting five fours and a six before his dismissal in the 21st over.
The dismissal, on its part, was a contentious one. Taijul, introduced as second change and in his first spell, got a full ball to angle in from around the stumps and hit Campbell's front leg. Umpire Sharfuddoula then raised his finger but Campbell reviewed. TV umpire Gazi Sohel checked if the ball grazed the bottom edge of the bat during Campbell's sweep but felt there was no bat involved despite the tiniest of spikes on UltraEdge. The spike, however, could also have been generated by other sounds picked up by the stump mic and he upheld the on-field decision. A few balls later, a seemingly dissatisfied West Indies coach Phil Simmons could be seen talking to the reserve umpire Masudur Rahman near the boundary line, perhaps wanting to know more about how the TV umpire reached his decision.
That was the only moment of joy for Bangladesh in the first session where they otherwise struggled with the ball. Jayed, the lone frontline seamer, was wayward in his first spell. Although he got the ball to swing away from the right-hand batsmen, his inconsistent lines early on allowed Brathwaite and Campbell to begin positively.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who shared the new ball, occasionally missed his lengths and was regularly put away behind square on either side too. Like Miraz, first-change Nayeem Hasan found turn but didn't challenge either batsman's edge. Full balls were defended by Brathwaite, but when the same was offered to Campbell, he attacked the 'V' down the ground.
But Jayed redeemed himself in the second session when he went back to his most potent delivery - the full ball. His stock ball in the early 130kphs was not troubling West Indies in the morning, but in the afternoon, he looked to pitch the ball, now significantly older, up to the batsmen. That troubled No. 3 Shayne Moseley for enough time, such that when Jayed offered a full and wide ball from around the stumps in the 34th over, he was tempted to drive. But the loose, off-balanced shot from Moseley ended in an inside edge onto leg stump, out for 7.
That brought in Mayers, the double-centurion from the first Test. He looked comfortable against spin, but Jayed's persistence with the around-the-stumps angle earned him a second wicket. It was another full and wide ball, with a hint of swing, that brought out the drive from Mayers and resulted in an edge to Sarkar at wide first slip for 5.
Sandwiched between the two Jayed wickets was Kraigg Brathwaite's dismissal, who was out three short of a 21st Test fifty. Part-timer Soumya Sarkar - who replaced the injured Shadman Islam in the line-up - was rewarded when Brathwaite tried to cut a ball that was too close to his body, only to edge it to Najmul Hassan Shanto at first slip. Those three wickets meant West Indies slipped from 84 for 1 to 142 for 4.
But West Indies fought back thereafter, courtesy a 62-run fifth-wicket stand between Bonner and Jermaine Blackwood (28). They ensured West Indies did not lose a fourth wicket in the post-lunch session by adding 30 before the break, and after tea nudged the spinners around to keep the run rate ticking. The longer they batted, the more comfortable they looked. But Blackwood then played Taijul with hard hands in the 72nd over, and the full ball popped off the bat in the air for the spinner to hold on to a return catch. It was a dismissal that came against the run of play, reducing West Indies to 178 for 5.
That brought Bonner's contribution to the fore even more. Early on, he played the spin bowlers with ease and was not in a hurry to look for boundaries. He patiently dead-batted balls that were not in his scoring zone, and when the bowlers erred, he put them away. That template, of selecting his shots on the merit of each delivery, took him to his second successive fifty.
But there were still 18 overs to go when Blackwood was dismissed though, and in Da Silva, Bonner found a partner who had the temperament to see off the day without any more casualties. Together they looked to find the gaps, picking up singles and twos with minimal risk. Bonner was also incorrectly deemed lbw late in the 79th over, but he swiftly reviewed to have the decision overturned.
Bonner and Da Silva seemed unperturbed against the second new ball too. Jayed's late, short spell brought no wickets. That made Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque go back to spin from both ends. With extra bounce and significant turn from the rough, the batsmen reined in their attacking shots to see off the day with five wickets still in the bank. It was an attritional day of Test cricket, a classic of sorts. Both teams had to work hard for their rewards and will believe that whichever team dominates the first session of day two could get a stranglehold on this contest.
