Mustafizur Rahman in action
Mustafizur and Mashrafe Mortaza claimed 7-wickets as Bangladesh beat a valiant West Indies by 5 wickets in the 5th match of the Tri-series. Shai Hope sustained his impressive form while captain Jason Holder found the right touch for West Indies in the Ireland tri-nations series but they failed to ignite the rest of their team.
West Indies were handed a five-wicket defeat by Bangladesh in the penultimate match of the preliminary competition at Malahide on Monday evening. Hope gathered a typically composed 87 from 108 balls, including six fours and one six, and anchored the Caribbean team to 247 for the loss of nine after they chose to bat.
The West Indies wicket-keeper batsman was again the glue that held the top order of the batting, carrying his aggregate for the series to 396 runs at an average of 99, as he engineered a recovery with Holder after West Indies stumbled to 99 for the loss of four in the 24th over.
Hope, who has scored 1153 at 67.82 over the last 18 months, shared 112 for the fifth wicket with Holder, whose 62 from 76 balls included three fours and one six.
There was little stability from the rest of the West Indies batting following his departure as left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman returned with the figures of 4/43 from nine overs and Mashrafe Mortaza took 3/60 from his allotted 10 overs to undermine the lower order.
West Indies failed to make an early breakthrough when Bangladesh started their pursuit.
However, off-spinner Ashley Nurse was the pick of the bowlers, capturing 3/53. The rest of the Caribbean attack failed to make an impact on the hard, true pitch, and the Bangladesh top-order led by half-centuries from wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim and opener Soumya Sarkar coasted the Asian side to victory with 16 balls remaining.
Bangladesh and West Indies will next meet for the final on May 17 at The Village, Malahide.
(With ANI Inputs)
