Windies ride on Greaves’ 115 to exercise dominance over Bangladesh

(ESPN Cricinfo) – A maiden Test century for Justin Greaves capped a dominant day for West Indies against Bangladesh on day two of the Antigua Test.

After his 115 helped West Indies post 450 for 9, West Indies ended the day with two Bangladesh wickets, leaving the visitors 410 behind with eight wickets in hand.

It was a fine recovery after slumping to 261 for 7 despite a night’s score of 250 for 5. Greaves shared a 140-run eighth wicket stand with Kemar Roach, who batted for more than four hours for 47, his highest Test score in his 15-year career.

Greaves’ unbeaten 115 vindicated his Super50 form, which saw him hit three consecutive centuries earlier this month. He put in a patient effort and hit just four boundaries in his 206-ball stay. It was the perfect follow-up to the nineties that Alick Athanaze and Mikyle Louis had scored on day one to lay the foundations.

Bangladesh continued to give away strong positions with the ball, trailing for 144.1 overs but unable to match the home side. Hasan Mahmud took three wickets, all on the second day. Taskin Ahmed toiled hard and even found the edge of Greaves’ bat once, but nobody appealed. The spinners, stand-in captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam, shared three wickets from their combined 73.1 overs.

The West Indies declared, with Bangladesh having to beat a maximum time of one hour and 45 minutes. But there was no respite for them against the four-man West Indian pace attack. Zakir Hasan fell for 15 after he edged a Jayden Seales delivery onto his stumps. The left-hander hit three fours in his short stint, well outside Seales, but was a bit unlucky with the ball shaving the leg stump. Mahmudul Hasan Joy edged Alzarri Joseph for 5 soon after he was dropped on the same score.

It was far from the start of the day for the visitors as they started the day in the best way possible by taking two early wickets.

Mahmud removed Joshua Da Silva with the fifth ball of the morning session, caught lbw with a delivery that bounced into his front pad. This was Mahmud’s first wicket of the match 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 became 25 when Alzarri fell in Mahmud’s next over. Zakir took a superb two-handed catch at gully, reminiscent of how he opened the Pakistan tour with Abdullah Shafique’s catch at gully in August. If Bangladesh sensed they had their opening to pounce on the West Indies for under 300 runs, it was blunted by Roach.

He was the right type of foil for Greaves, who was willing to grind out the Bangladesh attack. Greaves handed the strike to Roach from time to time as the pair did not allow more wickets in the first session. There were also only two boundaries in the 26 overs, but that hardly bothered the home side, who needed a recovery.

Greaves started the second session with his third boundary when he pulled Taskin through midwicket. However, he survived a trapped chance of 77, with neither Taskin nor wicketkeeper Jaker Ali (who deputized for Litton Das after the first session) hearing a faint nick. It was only a replay on the big screen that showed what Bangladesh missed.

Soon after, a Roach single brought up the team’s first century partnership for the eighth wicket against Bangladesh. That was followed by a seven-minute rain break after which Roach hit Mehidy over the head for his first boundary. Mahmud eventually removed Roach with a fine angling, clipping the top of his middle stump. Their 140-run stand was West Indies’ third-highest for the eighth wicket.

Greaves soon reached his century with his fourth boundary shot, driving Taijul through the covers. It was potentially his best knock of the innings and the landmark was only his second first-class ton.

West Indies declared in the 145th over of their innings after their tail-enders Seales and Shamar Joseph hit some meaty knocks. That gave enough time for the bowlers to get a crack, which they successfully did.