Kieran Powell and Shai Hope warmed up with classy half-centuries as West Indies ended day one of their 2-day tour game versus Bangladesh, which bowled off on Sunday at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong.
Shai Hope retired for a top-score of 88
West Indies officially bowled off their tour of Bangladesh on Sunday with a strong batting performance, led by Powell who stroked 72, with six fours and a six; while a more aggressive Hope smacked 88 from 112, with 10 fours and 3 maximums, to help the tourist post a formidable 303-6 in 86.3 overs following stumps on day one.
At the crease was the Guyanese all-rounder Keemo Paul, who was looking solid on 18, and his Guyana Jaguars teammate and skipper — Jason Holder’s replacement — the all-rounder Raymon Reifer, who was 14 not out.
17-year-old newbie Nayeem Hasan returned 2 wickets for Bangladesh
The Windies took full advantage of batting first, despite scoring only two fifties. The core of the Windies’ middle order also showed some fight, with Roston Chase hitting 35, and Guyanese batting star Shimron Hetmyer and the consistent wicket-keeper Shane Dowrich hitting 24 apiece, and Sunil Ambris scoring 17, the next best score.
Windies stand-in skipper Kraigg Brathwaite was the only batsman to really miss out on a seemingly good batting surface. The right-hander was rocked for just 6 runs by pacer Shafiul Islam, who was among one of three bowlers to grab a wicket for Bangladesh (1-23). The 17-year-old debutant off-break bowler Nayeem Hasan turned in the best bowling figures with 2-104.
Having lost their skipper with just 6 runs on the board, the pair of Hope and Powell anchored the innings and took the score to 174, before the latter was removed by Fazle Mohammed.
Kieran Powell scored a crucial half-century at the top of the order
Cruising to a brisk fifty, Hope was then forced to retire hurt just a small portion of runs away from warming up ahead of the Test series with a ton.
The Windies’ middle order then put together a few good innings, despite not crossing fifty. Chase, Hetmyer and Dowrich all showed glimpses of their decent batting form, which they have maintained from the Indian tour.
The visitors will now seek to show their class with the bat, as both sides have just one day left to get themselves properly fine-tuned ahead of the first Test, which bowls off on November 21at Chittagong.
