Bangladesh 269 for 9 (Jaker 53, Mominul 50, Joseph 3-69) West Indies 450 for December 9 (Greaves 115*, Louis 97, Athanaze 90, Mahmud 3-87) by 181 runs
The visitors started the third morning quietly, with Mominul getting a couple of goals off Shamar Joseph. Soon after, Kemar Roach removed Shahadat Hossain for 18, in which he played 71 balls. It was an innings that went nowhere before he took first slip where Kavem Hodge took a low catch.
Mominul and Litton took care of the end of the first session and continued to bat doggedly. The usually free-flowing Litton started with an easy square cut in front of Alzarri, but then played mostly within himself. Just in the over before the lunch break, Litton freed his arms to hit another cut four, this time off Shamar.
However, West Indies made a breakthrough soon after the lunch break when Seales caught Mominul lbw after the left-hander reached his 21st fifty.
Stand-in captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz then endured a bouncer test from the West Indies attack, with Alzarri even hitting him on the shoulder. Seales contributed his share of bouncers and verbals.
Litton also stalled, prompting Shamar to bowl him with a slightly short delivery that dragged into his stumps. Litton hit 40 off 76 balls with three fours, but it was a disappointing outing for one of Bangladesh’s three experienced batsmen.
Mehidy hit a couple of boundaries against Greaves and Shamar later in the second session but the short ball continued to bother him. After surviving 66 balls, Mehidy finally edged a rebound from Alzarri at short leg, which Mikyle Louis took a comfortable catch.
Then came Taijul and Jaker’s unlikely act of resurgence. The pair took advantage of a grueling West Indies attack while being disciplined in their shot selection. They had to look for scoring opportunities, but they were always looking for the odd limit. They also survived one missed opportunity each.
Taijul continued to use the West Indian pace, guiding the ball behind the square offside, while Jaker tried to force the issue. Jaker got his four boundaries with the pull shot and hoick, one of which helped him reach fifty. Joseph separated the pair after batting for 19 overs when he bowled Taijul. Jaker fell to a Seales catch at the deep midwicket boundary, while trying to catch Greaves for a big one.
There was a bit of sideplay between Joseph and Taskin Ahmed towards the end, particularly after the fast bowler hit the Bangladesh end on the head. The two exchanged words but Joseph could not bring down Bangladesh’s 10th wicket despite the gloom.
The West Indies reached the third day thanks to an excellent batting performance on the first two days. They remain in control of proceedings at North Sound until the penultimate day and will want the rain to stay away to achieve a result.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo correspondent in Bangladesh. @isam84
