Junaid Siddique and Mohammad Mahmudullah hit half-centuries to lead Bangladesh to a three-wicket victory and a 3-0 clean sweep of the one-day international series over the West Indies on Friday.
Siddique struck six fours making 55 from 73 balls, and Mahmudullah, who was named man of the match, hit two fours and one six in an unbeaten 51 from 70 balls to help Bangladesh overhaul a victory target of 249 in the third and final one-day match at Warner Park.
Mahmudullah made sure of victory when he flicked a delivery from Kemar Roach through square-leg.
PHOTO: AFP
Bangladesh won the opening match in Dominica last Sunday by 52 runs and the second match at the same venue on Tuesday by three wickets. Their one-day series victory followed a clean sweep of the preceding two-Test series against a home side decimated by a player boycott.
“After winning the Test series, we were looking forward to this one-day series,” Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan said. “It was a total team effort. Every time the team was under pressure, someone was able to put their hands up and do the job. This success in the Caribbean will help to take us to the next level.”
Bangladesh dismissed the West Indies for 248 in 47.4 overs, after the hosts decided to bat.
Siddique and fellow opener Tamim Iqbal set Bangladesh on their way with a stand of 54 for the first wicket, but they slid to 133 for five in the 28th over before Mahmudullah joined Mushfiqur Rahim and added 50 for the sixth wicket.
However, it took a stand of 49 for the seventh wicket between Mahmudullah and Naeem Islam to push the Tigers almost over the threshold.
Earlier, Mahmudullah, bowling his off-spin, along with fast-medium bowler Mahbubul Alam and left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak all captured two wickets.
The Bangladesh bowlers maintained the pressure throughout and several West Indies batsmen got starts.
Andre Fletcher led the way with 52 from 42 balls, captain Floyd Reifer and his deputy Darren Sammy made 40 apiece.
“I think throughout the series we needed to build more and better partnerships when we were batting,” Reifer said. “Whenever we seem to be building partnerships, the guys always seem to be getting out at the wrong time. They needed to carry on at crucial stages in the game, but we had a young, inexperienced team. We have got to continue to play hard, keep talking more about the game and looking back at our mistakes. All the games were very close and it was just that we kept making crucial mistakes at crucial times.”
Bangladesh restricted the West Indies to 10 for two in the fourth over, before Travis Dowlin and Andre Fletcher put on 76 for the third wicket.
Fletcher reached his 50 from 40 balls, when he slogged Abdur Razzak over mid-wicket for his eighth four in the 14th over, after he had taken a four and a six off the third and fourth balls of the same over.
Bangladesh then made the West Indies wobble on 124 for five in the 28th over, but they were revived when Reifer and Sammy added 64 before they were among a cluster of wickets that fell in the last 15 overs.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but