Watch cricket video highlights of Bangladesh tour of West Indies 2024. 1st Test between Bangladesh and West Indies. Venue of the match will be North Sound.
Miraz, captain of Bangladesh: Since I believe that the first hour is crucial for bowlers, I would prefer to bowl first. Wicket is promising, but we must capitalize during the first hour. We have three quick bowlers and two spinners, Taijul and myself. The top order batters are in for a fantastic opportunity. Our communication has been effective. We must concentrate on our batting.
WI captain Brathwaite: We would have bowled first, but the wicket is good and has some moisture. Before the Test series, we enjoyed a pleasant camp here. The lads are feeling upbeat. We are using four excellent fast bowlers because we had a lot of success with pacers here. If we need spin, we also have Alick and Kavem. We’ll have to be hungry like batters, and you have to be tougher to get in. We don’t want to settle for a fifty; we want to go big.
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Report
On the opening day of the Antigua Test match against Bangladesh, both Mikyle Louis and Alick Athanaze experienced the sorrow of falling in the nineties. Other than that, the West Indies duo performed enough to claim the first day of the series. The pair’s 140-run fourth-wicket partnership gave the West Indies’ innings new life and accelerated the score total. The result was that the West Indies dominated the proceedings for over two periods. Louis just missed his first Test century, falling on 97.
Louis played 27 balls in the nineties before losing to Bangladesh’s stand-in captain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, despite displaying excellent discipline during his 218-ball stay. Athanaze was out in the nineties for the second time in his brief Test career after falling to Taijul Islam a few overs later. After limiting the Wet Indies’ scoring rate to less than 2.50 in the first 54 overs, the bowlers from Bangladesh will be frustrated that they were unable to contain the Louis-Athanaze duo.
Bangladesh chose to bowl first at the toss, however the returns were mediocre overall, with Taskin Ahmed taking two wickets and Taijul and Mehidy taking one apiece. Justin Greaves and Joshua Da Silva scored easily against the second new ball in the closing moments of the day after the Louis-Athanaze duo was dismissed by the spinners. In addition to the poor light, play was halted after 84 overs as a rain began. Early in the day, Louis held his own against West Indies, who were tested by Bangladesh’s fast-bowling trio of Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam, and Taskin.
Outside the offstump, Hasan continued to hit him. With the delivery constantly threatening to curve in, Shoriful put him to the test near the off-stump. Taskin pressed Louis to fish outside off-stump, occasionally bowled the odd yorker, and employed the wobbling seam. Playing his first Test since mid-August, Shoriful received more swing from the Sir Curtly Ambrose end than the Andy Roberts end. Despite missing the last five Test matches, he appeared to be in sync with the red ball.
Despite the runs not coming off his bat, he agitated Kraigg Brathwaite, who attempted to dig in. In the meantime, Louis waited for the short ball, which he hit with the pull stroke to score two fours. Then, with a hint of inside movement that beat his bat, Taskin removed Brathwaite, trapping him lbw. When Keacy Carty was unable to keep his wristy whip down, Taskin had him caught at mid-on, which resulted in a mild dismissal. Carty finished on an eight-ball duck, and Brathwaite scored four runs in 38 balls.
As they attempted to salvage the innings, Louis then discovered that Kavem Hodge was a bit more forthcoming. Before the lunch break, the couple had already set four limits, but in the second session, they solidified. When Louis punched Taskin down the ground for a boundary, he reached his fifty. Hodge then gave Taskin a square cut on the slap, but he was short on time. Taijul’s long leg toss had Hodge far short despite a dive, and he was run out for 25 after trying to score a second run off Mehidy’s bowling.
Bangladesh remained disciplined despite Athanaze’s attempts to increase the run-rate. The spinners Taijul and Mehidy were responsible for keeping things tight in the afternoon. A few balls that Athanze skied landed just out of the fielder’s grasp. If Taskin had moved a little quicker from mid-on, one of them, a top edge towards mid-on, may have been a catch. In the second session, Athanaze hit Mehidy with a sweep for four, but his many reversal sweeps were unsuccessful.
Louis was rather silent in his approach, but he did lift Taskin for a four over the bowler’s head near the close of the second session. After tea, Athanaze took the initiative to increase the scoring rate for the West Indies. Before he eventually scored a four off Mehidy with a reverse sweep, he began the last session with two square-cut boundaries. Mehidy then went into the nineties after Louis lofted him for the first six of the day. Then, when Louis reached 90, Mehidy dumped him at slip.
Athanaze opened up at the other end as well, and Louis picked up Mahmud for his ninth boundary as he approached his first century. Before hitting Taskin for successive fours in the 71st over, he swept Taijul, then cut and flicked away. Following his first six, Athanaze slog-swept Taijul before hitting another reverse-swept boundary. Mehidy got rid of Louis against the flow of play, charging at him and was caught at slip by Shahadat Hossain, who made a brilliant catch. Athanaze was caught behind by Taijul three overs later. On day two, there was a slight opportunity when both hitters were out in four runs.
