1st ODI: Pollard, Ramdin spare West Indies’ blushes

Duo helps Caribbean side win by three wickets against Bangladesh.

ST GEORGE’S: Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin saved the West Indies from a humiliating defeat and engineered a three-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the first ODI at the National Stadium in Grenada on Wednesday.

Reeling at 34 for five in reply to the tourists’ total of 217 for nine, Pollard’s commanding 89 and Ramdin’s polished 74 turned the match on its head, their 145-run sixth-wicket partnership transforming the improbability of victory into a leisurely canter by the time the winning runs were hit by Jason Holder in the 40th over.

They played positively and exposed the limitations of the Bangladeshi bowling attack as visiting captain Mushfiqur Rahim was at his wit’s end to stem the flow of runs following the early clatter of wickets.

Medium-pacer Al-Amin Hossain emerged with the bowling honours, taking three of the first five wickets to fall and finishing with four for 51.

He added the scalp of Pollard, who fell to an outstanding outfield catch by Mahmudullah as the big-hitting right-hander attempted to heave another six to take him closer to a hundred and his team nearer to victory.

“It was good to be able to put my head down together with Ramdin to bring the match home,” said Pollard.

Dwayne Bravo was the most successful West Indies bowler, finishing with four for 32, including the wickets of Mashrafe Mortaza and Anamul in the final over of the innings.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement because the top order of the batting, including myself, let us down again,” said Bravo while reflecting on the victory.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2014.

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