West Indies lost a nail-biting encounter with Bangladesh by seven runs in the first CG United T20 International at Arnos Vale in St Vincent and the Grenadines on Sunday night.
The match, which went down to the final over, had see-sawed before West Indies were bowled out for 140 as they chased the 147 for victory.
Having won the toss, the Windies opted to bowl first. This decision proved fruitful early on, as Akeal Hosein claimed two wickets in quick succession during the powerplay, dismissing Tanzid Hasan and Liton Das in a double-wicket maiden over. Roston Chase struck soon after, removing Afif Hossain with a catch at short leg.
A 57-run stabilising fourth-wicket stand between Soumya Sarkar and Jaker Ali gave the Tigers hope of a comeback before that was ended through a brilliant catch by captain Rovman Powell on the boundary to dismiss Ali. Bangladesh scored 51 runs in the final five overs, finishing at 147 for 6. During the innings, Obed McCoy, playing on his home ground for the first time, reached the milestone of 50 T20 wickets.
In the West Indies reply, Brandon King fell early to Taskin Ahmed. In-form batsman Nicholas Pooran lost his wicket soon after, caught out of his crease and easily stumped by wicketkeeper Das. Saint Lucian Johnson Charles contributed a 20-run cameo on his return to the men in maroon following minor surgery earlier in the year, before falling cheaply. These events saw the Windies reeling at 57 for 5 at the end of the powerplay.
The Windies were in further trouble when Romario Shepherd came to bat with the score at 61 for 7. However, he and Powell refused to go down without a fight, putting on a record 67-run partnership for the eighth wicket to give the regional side hope.
With West Indies needing 10 runs to win off the final over, young Hasan Mahmud held his nerve and took the remaining two wickets of Powell and Alzarri Joseph.
Mehidy Hassan was named Man of the Match for his career-best figures of 4-13 off four overs, and his 26 runs.
Commenting on the narrow defeat, Powell pointed to his team’s early loss of wickets and struggles with death bowling, which has been a consistent issue for the squad over the past few fixtures.
“It is just a matter of us assessing it a little earlier. We could have consolidated a bit more. The only time they would have been in the game was if we lost wickets in clusters, and we did that,” he said. “[Death bowling has] always been a struggle for us. Over the last 12 months or so, we have improved. It was a credible bowling performance. As a batting group, we let the team down.”
The West Indies will hope for a better performance on Tuesday when they face Bangladesh at the same venue.
