Guyanese batsman Leon Johnson scored a half century on debut, as the West Indies controlled the opening day of the second Dhaka Bank Test at the Beausejour cricket ground in St Lucia yesterday.Prior to the start of play, Johnson was presented his maroon cap by one of the greatest West Indian players ever, Sir Clive Lloyd and this must have motivated him, as he scored 66 to leave the West Indies on 246 for three at the end of the first day's play of their 500th Test match.Also joining in the celebration of the tremendous milestone were the inform Kraigg Brathwaite 63, Darren Bravo 44 not out and Shivnarine Chanderpaul 34 not out.
Earlier, Johnson became the 300th West Indian Test player and he was immediately thrown into the spotlight, as he was asked to open the batting with Brathwaite, after Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim called correctly at the toss.The left-hander came into the game with knowledge of the visitors bowling attack, as some of the bowlers were involved in Bangladesh A team tour of the region recently. Johnson was dominant during that series, scoring four half-centuries and compiling 235 runs in the two four-day "Tests" at an average of 78.
He took his time to get going in the big stage and he and the sedate Brathwaite took the score to 61 without loss at lunch. On the resumption, the duo did not dominate but played each ball on merit and were both able to get to their half centuries. Johnson was the first to the mark, completing it off 135 balls with two fours and a six.Brathwaite, who scored a double century in the opening Test, was soon touching his gloves as he got to his half century as well. He posted it off 129 balls and had three hits to the fence.The Bangladeshis had ran into a a wall as, the two ticked over the scoring to 143 before the visitors, finally had something to cheer about. Brathwaite was able to deal with some very good bowling throughout his innings, as Bangladesh adopted a good line and length for most of the time. However, he could not handle an absolute rubbish delivery and left for 63.
After spending 214 minutes off studied application, he reached for a short, wide delivery from Shafiul Islam and patted it to point. He faced 150 balls and struck five fours. As is often the case, after a big partnership, when one partner goes the other follows and this was the case for Johnson.He was unlucky though, as he was given leg before wicket to Taijul Islam and took too long to review. Hawkeye later showed that although he was struck in line, the ball was going to miss leg stump. His dream lasted for 227 minutes, faced 162 balls and struck five fours and a six. After losing two wickets in the space off two runs, the West Indies avoided a collapse, as Bravo and the off colour Kirk Edwards posted 40 runs for the third wicket. Edwards' struggles continued, as he batted for an hour, faced 52 balls and got just 16 runs.After Edwards fell, Bravo and Chanderpaul put together an unbroken 61-run partnership in 24 overs, to keep the West Indies on top. This game is taking shape just as the opening Test which the West Indies won by 10 wickets. When play resumes today, the overnight pair will be looking to pile on the pressure, as the Windies look to bat Bangladesh out of the Test match.
SCOREBOARD
WI vs Bangladesh
WI inns
K Brathwaite c Taijul Islam
b Shafiul Islam 63
L Johnson lbw Taijul Islam 66
K Edwards c Shamsur Rahman
b Mahmudullah 16
D Bravo not out 44
S Chanderpaul not out 34
Extras b8, lb2, w9, nb4 23
Total 3 wkts 246.
Fall of wkts: 143, 145, 185,
Bowling: Al Amin Hossain 18-3-33-0 (1w), A Islam 19-7-37-1 (1w), R Islam 19-4-55-0 (4nb, 3w), T Islam 20-4-79-1, Mahmudullah 12-2-25-1, N Hossain 2-0-7-0.