SPORTS

Windies blow away Bangladesh

March 04, 2011

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The West Indies' bowlers shot out co-hosts Bangladesh for a paltry 58 to set up a crushing nine-wicket victory in a Group B league encounter at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka, on Friday.

The victory one of the most comprehensive scored by the West Indies' in their 36-year history in the tournament.

Last match hero Kemar Roach (3/19) continued his good form while skipper Darren Sammy (3/21) and left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn (4/18) skittled out the home team in only 18.5 overs to set up one of their easiest wins in recent times.

Chris Gayle then smashed his way to a 36-ball 37, including six boundaries, as the winners completed the formalities in only 12.2 overs, losing the wicket of Devon Smith.

The duration of the match was only 32.1 overs.

It was sweet revenge for the men from the Caribbean Islands, as Bangladesh had whitewashed a second string Windies team 2-0 and 3-0 in Tests and ODIs back in 2009.

For the West Indies, huge back-to-back wins will be big confidence booster with matches coming up against some of the better teams.

Bangladesh's 58 was their lowest in ODI history as well as in the tournament, and the fourth lowest total in the history of the World Cup.

The slide started with Roach inducing an edge off opener Tamim Iqbal (0) with an outswinger that was gleefully accepted by skipper Sammy at second slip.

The St Lucia-born Sammy then got into the act, removing Imrul Kayes for five, as he nicked one to Devon Thomas behind the stumps.

Zunaed Siddiqui showed the real nature of the pitch with his drives and cuts that gave a glimmer of hope but a Roach yorker finished the job as the left-hander fell leg-before for 25 off 33 balls.

Sammy kept up the pressure by having Mushfiqur Rahim caught at mid-wicket by Ramnaresh Sarwan before bringing back the lanky left-arm spinner Benn for a second spell (after his first ended unsuccessfully in just one over).

Benn beat Shakib completely in flight, as the Bangladesh skipper was completely deceived, falling for eight runs.

Roqibul Hasan, Naeem Islam and then Mohammad Ashraful all fell between 51 and 58, to bust the myth about the Bangladesh batting which boasts of specialists till No. 8.

Benn then took his third and fourth wickets by removing Shafiul Islam and Rubel Hossain as the West Indies wrapped up the tail to give a flavour of their dominance during yesteryear.

With the first innings over in just over an hour and half, Chris Gayle provided some brief entertainment for the partisan supporters who 'cheered' every shot that the former West Indies captain hit.

The crowd reacted angrily, throwing placards, caps, logos and even team jerseys on to the outfield.

"We never thought we'd bat this poorly because we've been playing really good cricket for last the 12 months and we've been consistent with the bat," Bangladesh captain Shakib said, trying to speak above the boos ringing round the stadium.

"I don't know (what went wrong). We have a lot of things to work on now. We have to sit down and think about it.

"But hopefully we'll come back strongly as there are three more games. If we want to qualify for the second round, we have to win two out of three. It is still very much possible."

Gayle tried to explain the Bangladesh collapse.

"The wicket seemed to be doing a bit, I mean for the spinners, but Kemar Roach did a brilliant job.

"In fact, all our players stepped up to restrict Bangladesh to 60 runs.

He continued: "I think this win will take us to the quarter-final but we still can't relax as we have couple of crucial games coming up against Ireland, India and England."

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