Anamul Haque’s gritty hundred has held Bangladesh together as the visitors reached 217 for nine against a troubled West Indies in the first one-day international at the National Stadium.
Put in to bat on Wednesday on a pitch that made free scoring difficult, the opening batsman’s 109 was essential to giving the innings some respectability with more senior players in the batting order failing to contribute significantly.
Fellow opener Tamim Iqbal and lower-order player Nasir Hossain were the next best contributors with 26 runs apiece.
West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo was the most successful bowler, finishing with four for 32, including the wickets of Mashrafe Mortaza and Anamul in the final over of the innings.
Sunil Narine again impressed with his economy though, the spinner conceding only 29 runs off his ten wicketless overs.
Anamul’s knock occupied 138 deliveries during which he struck 11 fours and the lone six of the innings, a top-edged hook off fast-medium bowler Ravi Rampaul.
The 21-year-old’s two ODI hundreds have both come against the West Indies, his top score remaining the 120 compiled in the series in Bangladesh at the end of 2012.
He lost Tamim after an opening stand of 41, the left-hander miscuing an attempted pull off Jason Holder for Kieron Pollard to take the catch at short mid-wicket and make amends for an earlier, more difficult, miss offered by the attacking player off Rampaul in the same fielding position.
Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals until Nasir joined Anamul at 141 for five in the 34th over, the pair putting on 53 for the sixth wicket and giving the innings a bit of momentum before Nasir departed, caught at the wicket off a miscued swing at Rampaul as he attempted to accelerate the scoring.
Despite the greater urgency, Bangladesh still struggled to improve the run-rate significantly, leaving their bowlers with a tough task to prevent the West Indies overhauling what appears to be a modest target in the second half of the match.
West Indies’ preparations for the match were disrupted when coach Ottis Gibson was axed just 12 hours before the start of play.
Team manager Richie Richardson is performing the role of coach on an interim basis for the series.
