Bangladesh Trail 40 per person (Alzarri 1-2, Seales 1-15) west indies 450/9 (Greaves 115, Louis 97, Athanadze 90, Roach 47, Hassan 3-87) 410 runs.
Greaves’ unbeaten record of 115 justified his Super50 record of scoring three centuries earlier this month. He worked patiently, hitting just four boundaries in his 206-ball stay. With Alick Athanaze and Mikyle Louis scoring on day one to lay the groundwork, it was the perfect follow-up to the 90s.
West Indies declared that Bangladesh needed to last up to 1 hour 45 minutes. But there was no rest for them against the four-man West Indian pace attack. Zakir Hasan was on 15 after under-edgeing Jayden Seales’ delivery on his stumps. The left-hander hit three fours for the Seals during his short stay, but was a bit unlucky as the ball clipped the leg stump. Mahmudul Hasan Joy beat Alzarri Joseph by 5 shortly after falling on the same score.
It was a long way from the start of the day as the visitors started the day in the best way possible, taking advantage of two early wickets.
Mahmoud removed Joshua da Silva with the fifth ball of the morning session, caught lbw after a delivery flew towards his front pad. This was Mahmud’s first wicket of the game despite bowling well on the first day. It was also his 24th wicket of the year, making him the highest wicket-taker in a calendar year among Bangladesh’s pace bowlers.
That number reached 25 when Alzarri was dropped in Mahmud’s next over. Zakir took a superb two-handed catch in the gully, reminiscent of how he started the Pakistan tour in August with Abdullah Shafique’s gully catch. If Bangladesh sensed there was an opportunity to bowl West Indies under 300, Roach blunted it.
He was the right type of foil for Greaves, who was willing to complete Bangladesh’s attack. Greaves occasionally handed the strike to Roach as the pair conceded no more wickets in the first session. There were only two boundaries in those 26 overs, but it did little to hinder the home side, who needed to recover.
Greaves started the second session with his third boundary when he pulled Taskin through midwicket. But he survived a chance to fall behind on 77 without either Taskin or wicketkeeper Jaker Ali (deputizing for Litton Das after the first session) hearing a faint nick. It was only the replay on the big screen that showed what Bangladesh had been missing.
Soon after, a Roach single brought up the team’s first century partnership for the eighth wicket against Bangladesh. It rained for the next seven minutes, after which Roach slammed Mehidy over his head for his first boundary. Mahmud finally got rid of Roach with a fine angled delivery and clipped the top of mid-stump. Their 140-run stand was West Indies’ third-highest stand for the eighth wicket.
Greaves soon reached his century with his fourth boundary shot, driving Taijul through covers. It was potentially the best shot of his innings and the landmark was his second first-class ton.
West Indies called the innings over for 145 after some powerful hitting from tail-enders Seales and Shamar Joseph. This left plenty of time for the bowlers to have a crack at it, and they did so successfully.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
