Bangladesh 40 to 2 (Alzarri 1-2, Seales 1-15) West Indies 450 for 9 (Greaves 115, Louis 97, Athanaze 90, Roach 47, Hasan 3-87) for 410 runs
Greaves’ unbeaten 115 justified his Super50 form, where he scored three consecutive centuries earlier this month. He put in a patient effort, hitting just four boundaries in his 206-ball stay. It was the perfect continuation of the nineties that Alick Athanaze and Mikyle Louis had marked on the first day to lay the foundations.
The West Indies declared that Bangladesh needed to beat a maximum time of one hour and 45 minutes. But there was no respite for them against West Indies’ four-man pace attack. Zakir Hasan fell for 15 after missing a Jayden Seales delivery into his stumps. The left-hander hit three fours in his short stay, all against Seales, but was a bit unlucky and the ball shaved his leg stump. Mahmudul Hasan Joy beat Alzarri Joseph by 5, shortly after falling by the same score.
The visitors were a long way from the start of the day as they started the day in the best possible way by taking two early wickets.
Mahmud removed Joshua Da Silva with the fifth ball of the morning session, caught lbw with a delivery that hurtled towards his front pad. This was Mahmud’s first wicket in the game despite bowling well on the first day. It was also his 24th wicket this year, making him the highest wicket-taker in a calendar year among Bangladesh pace bowlers.
That number became 25 when Alzarri fell in Mahmud’s next over. Zakir made a magnificent two-handed catch in the gully, reminiscent of how he opened the tour of Pakistan with Abdullah Shafique’s catch in the gully in August. If Bangladesh felt they had their chance to bowl out the West Indies for less than 300 runs, Roach mitigated that.
It was the right kind of foil for Greaves, who was willing to withstand the Bangladesh attack. Greaves delivered the strike to Roach from time to time as the pair did not allow any more wickets in the first session. There were also only two boundaries in those 26 overs, but that didn’t bother the home team who needed a comeback.
Greaves began the second session with his third boundary when he pushed Taskin through mid-wicket. He, however, survived a chance to be caught on 77 without either Taskin or wicketkeeper Jaker Ali (replacing Litton Das after the first session) hearing a slight cut. It was just a replay on the big screen that showed what Bangladesh missed.
Soon after, a single from Roach brought up the team’s first century partnership for the eighth wicket against Bangladesh. It was followed by a seven-minute rain break, after which Roach hit Mehidy on the head for his first boundary. Mahmud finally removed Roach with a fine cane delivery, clipping the top of his middle stump. His 140-run stand was West Indies’ third-highest for the eighth wicket.
Greaves soon reached his century with his fourth boundary, pushing Taijul through the sheets. It was potentially his best shot of the innings and the milestone was only his second first-class ton.
West Indies declared in the 145th innings, after their finishers, Seales and Shamar Joseph, dealt some substantial blows. That left enough time for the players to have a chance, which they successfully did.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo correspondent in Bangladesh. @isam84
