The Albany Gazette - Bangladesh crash to 103 all out in first Test against West Indies

Compounding their woes after an innings which featured six ducks -- only the seventh time that has occurred in the 145-year history of Test cricket -- Kraigg Brathwaite was dropped before he had scored with the home captain and opening partner John Campbell crawling to 15 without loss off 15 overs in reply at the tea interval.

Jayden Seales and Alzarri Joseph were the most successful West Indies bowlers with identical figures of three for 33 but it was double strikes by Kemar Roach and Kyle Mayers which took the early spotlight to have Bangladesh tottering at 45 for six in the morning.

Returning captain Shakib al Hasan then played an adventurous innings of 51 to ensure his team avoided a debacle similar to when they were routed for 43 at the same venue at the start of the 2018 series.

With Brathwaite having no hesitation in opting to bowl first, Roach wasted no time in getting among the wickets.

Passed fit just the day before, the senior seamer struck with the second ball of the match as Mahmudul Hasan pushed carelessly at a wide delivery for Nkrumah Bonner to take the diving catch at third slip.

Roach then bowled Najmul Hossain between bat and pad in his next over to increase the burden on the shoulders of Tamim Iqbal.

Tamim, fresh from a century in the lone warm-up match against a Cricket West Indies President's XI, looked in the mood for the challenge and went past 5,000 runs in Test cricket in the course of his innings, joining the absent Mushfiqur Rahim as the only Bangladeshis to reach the landmark in Test cricket.

However he lost Monimul Haque to Seales, Jermaine Blackwood snaring the chance at second slip, before falling himself for 29 when a loose leg-side flick at Joseph gave wicketkeeper Joshua da Silva a straightforward catch.

Mayers, West Indies' bowling star in the ten-wicket, series-clinching victory over England two months earlier, then picked up from where he left off in Grenada with two wickets in his opening over.

An indecisive Liton Das prodded forward to give da Silva a simple catch and two balls later, replacement wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan fell leg-before offering no shot to a big inswinger to become the fourth batsman who failed to score.

Shakib, whose future in Test cricket remained in doubt for most of the past 12 months, lived dangerously in playing some expansive shots.

He was lucky to escape when Seales could only get his fingertips to the ball running back from mid-on when the Bangladesh captain heaved at Roach.

He made the most of the reprieve, striking six fours and a six to get to a 28th half-century in Test cricket before being ninth out attempting another big hit off Joseph for Roach to take the catch at long-on.

Joseph then dispatched last man Khaled Ahmed to end the innings 40 minutes after lunch and claim his best Test figures.

West Indies' only alarm in the 15 overs where Brathwaite and Campbell displayed ultra-defensive attitudes came when Mominul missed a sharp catch at leg-slip off Mustafizur Rahman before the home captain had scored.

West Indies are giving a debut to left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie while Raymon Reifer is playing his second Test, four-and-a-half years after his first, as former captain and premier all-rounder Jason Holder is being rested from this series.

(T.Burkhard--BBZ)