Antigua Test: Roach breathes fire as WI tightens noose on B’desh

The tourist was bowled out for 43, its lowest-ever total in Test cricket, before West Indies’ top order dug in to consolidate the advantage.

Published : Jul 05, 2018 07:51 IST , North Sound (Antigua and Barbuda)

 Kemar Roach (left) took five wickets in a space of 12 balls.
Kemar Roach (left) took five wickets in a space of 12 balls.
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Kemar Roach (left) took five wickets in a space of 12 balls.

Kemar Roach led the demolition of Bangladesh with a five-wicket haul as the tourist was dismissed for 43, its lowest total ever in Test cricket, before lunch on the opening day of the first Test against the West Indies at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.

By stumps, the West Indies top-order had built on that dominant bowling effort in reaching 201 for two, a lead already of 158 runs with eight wickets in hand.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Opening batsman Kraigg Brathwaite played his usual sheet-anchor role to perfection in compiling an unbeaten 88 from almost five hours at the crease. He put on 113 for the first wicket with Devon Smith (58), while Kieran Powell stroked his way to 48 in an 81-run stand before falling just before the close of play.

Their serene progress through two sessions contrasted sharply with Bangladesh’s woeful batting performance.

Apart from being its lowest Test innings total and lowest for any team in Test cricket in the Caribbean, it was also the second shortest first innings of a Test match — 18.4 overs — in the game’s 141-year history, bettering by just one delivery Australia’s dismissal for 60 off 18.3 overs by England at Nottingham in 2015.

Green surface

Put in to bat on the greenest surface seen in 10 years of Test cricket at the venue, the Bangladeshis were no match for the quality of the West Indies fast bowling led by Roach, who set the rout in motion by claiming the first five wickets for eight runs in the space of 12 deliveries despite appearing to be troubled by a muscular strain behind his right knee.

However, it was the visiting batsmen who felt the greatest discomfort, with only opener Liton Das getting into double-figures in a performance that once again exposed the vulnerability of their players in conditions away from what they are generally familiar with on the Indian sub-continent.

Das was sixth out for 25, an ugly heave offering a simple catch to Roston Chase at backward point off Miguel Cummins to end any prospect of Roach claiming all 10 wickets in the innings.

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