A couple of wickets for just 25 runs? Bangladesh would have thought their decision to bowl first after winning the toss was a genius one until Mikyle Louis and Alick Athanaze put their head down and took it upon themselves to pull the West Indies out of a tricky situation. The duo not only steadied the ship for the West Indies but the 140-run stand for the fourth wicket also helped the hosts take a bit of control of the first innings in the first of the two Tests against Bangladesh in Antigua.
Taskin Ahmed dismissed West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite and Keacy Carty for a duck in consecutive overs to push the hosts on the backfoot early. Kavem Hodge, the centurion in England, did the repair job pretty well alongside Louis who was really solid as he has been in the few matches since the start of his career.
Hodge got run out after scoring 25 but he played 63 deliveries and that was crucial. Louis held one end before Alick Athanaze joined him to take the game away from Bangladesh. While Louis remained watchful throughout his innings, playing the ball on merit, respecting the good ones and not missing out on the boundary balls, Athanaze was a little more aggressive and had a better intent to take the attack to the opposition.
Louis and Athanaze both brought up their fifties and West Indies went past 200. It seemed like both will get the West Indies through to the stumps and complete their respective centuries until the dream was cut short for both of them by the Bangladesh spinners.
The 140-run stand was broken by captain Mehidy Hasan as Louis fell short of his maiden Test hundred. Three overs later Taijul Islam dismissed the other set batter Athanaze as Bangladesh breathed a sigh of relief before the stumps. However, West Indies already have 250 runs on the board and even if they get 70-80 runs with five wickets in the bag, Bangladesh will have a tough task on their hands given how poorly they have performed in the last couple of series.
With both teams out of the World Test Championship (WTC) final race, the series is crucial for either side's confidence and to be able to find players who have the ability to survive in Test cricket.
