Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored his 30th Test hundred, Jerome Taylor took his 100th Test wicket and Sulieman Benn grabbed 5/72 to give West Indies a comprehensive 297-run victory over Bangladesh to take the Dhaka Bank Test series 2-0, at the Beausejour cricket ground in St Lucia.
It was a sweet victory for the home team, as they were playing their 500th Test match, since wetting their feet in 1928 against England. Chanderpaul scored an unbeaten 101 to lead the West Indies to 269 for four declared. The Bangladeshis were set a victory target off 489 runs and they were routed by Benn and Taylor for 192.
Bangladesh got off to a frenetic start, as Shamsur Rahman took the fight to the West Indies.
He slammed Taylor for two sixes and a four in one over but trying to repeat the shot next over, he landed one into the waiting hands of Kirk Edwards on the deep square leg boundary. He made a breezy 39 off 27 balls with four fours and two sixes, in 38 minutes of entertainment.
Soon after, Anamul Haque was on his way for a duck, feathering one to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin with the score at 48. Lunch was taken with the score 55 for two, with Tamim Iqbal surviving a torrid time from the fast bowlers.
After the lunch break, the West Indies players looked lethargic, instead of coming out fresh and Tamim and Mominul Haque were able to prosper. The fact that Darren Bravo dropped Mominul at first slip when he was 29 did not help either.
The West Indies got a taste of their own medicine, as they were left to run leather under the blazing sun. Tamim brought up his half century in the process, getting to the mark off 146 balls with a four and a six. Mominul soon got his as well, off 125 balls with five fours and once they were together Bangladesh looked like they belonged in the Test arena.
The period between lunch and tea belonged to the visitors, as they did not lose a wicket and recorded 59 runs. After tea it was the same story until Shannon Gabriel turned the innings into ruins, with a hand in three dismissals. He held a catch off Benn to send back Tamim for 64, made in 226 minutes off 181 balls with two fours and a six.
Gabriel then trapped Mahmudullah (0) leg before and took a scorcher of a catch to finish off the stubborn Mominul for 56. The little left hander batted for 184 minutes, faced 139 balls and struck five fours.
Benn then followed up with the wickets off Nasir Hossain and Taijul Islam, as Bangladesh lost five wickets in the space of 15 runs. The last front line batsman was skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and Taylor came back to bowl him for the second time in the match. In the same over he sent back Robiul Hossain to become the 20th West Indian to achieve the feat of taking 100 Test wickets.
Earlier, at 11.46am, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the devout Hindu bent down to kiss Dharti Mata (Mother Earth) to give thanks for scoring yet another Test hundred and making him the 11th player to have reached the 30th century milestone.
West Indies batted for 45 minutes and as soon as Chanderpaul got his century, Ramdin called in his boys. Chanderpaul who resumed on the overnight score off 63 not out got to his century off 134 balls with eight fours. He extended an unbelievable run against Bangladesh, which reads 59 not out, 201 not out, 1, 151 not out, 85 not out, 84 not out and 101 not out.
He now sits behind an illustrious band of players who have scored more than 30 Test hundreds and they are Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45), R Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (37), R Dravid (36), Sunil Gavaskar (34), Mahela Jayawardene (34),. Brian Lara (34) and Steve Waugh (32). Chanderpaul also became only the second batsman to remain undefeated throughout a Test series, having played a minimum of three innings and scored 200-plus runs. He made 269 runs with two fifties and the century. Kallis was the first to do so, against Zimbabwe in 2001.
When Chanderpaul reached his century, his partner at the other end Jermaine Blackwood was unbeaten on 66. He blasted his second Test half century off 120 balls with three fours and a six. The pair got together at 100 for four and was able to post an unbeaten 169 runs for the fifth wicket.
SCOREBOARD
WI vs Bangladesh
WI inns 1st inns 380
Bangladesh 1st inns 161
West Indies 2nd inns
(overnight 208/4)
K Brathwaite c S Rahman b Mahmudullah 45
L Johnson c T Islam 41
K Edwards c S Rahman b S Islam 2
D Bravo b Mahmudullah 7
S Chanderpaul not out 101
J Blackwood not out 66
Extras (lb5, w2) 7
Total for 4 wkts dec 269
Fall of wkts: 76, 81, 97, 100.
Bowling: T Islam 28-5-81-1, Al Amin Hossain 4-0-18-0, R Islam 12-3-42-0 (2w), S Islam 13-1-42-1, Mahmudullah 16-2-64-2, M Haque 4-0-17-0.
Bangladesh 2nd inns
T Iqbal c Gabriel b Benn 64
S Rahman c Edwards b Taylor 39
A Haque c Ramdin b Benn 0
M Haque c Gabriel b Benn 56
Mahmudullah lbw Gabriel 0
M Rahim b Taylor 11
N Hossain lbw Benn 2
T Islam c & b Benn 4
S Islam b Roach 14
R Islam lbw Taylor 0
Al-Amin Hossain not out 0
Extras lb1, w1 2
Total all out 192
Fall of wkts: 47, 48, 158, 160, 160, 167, 173, 188, 188, 192.
Bowling: J Taylor 13-4-39-3, K Roach 15.4-1-43-1, S Benn 32-6-72-5 (1w), J Blackwood 2-0-4-0, S Gabriel 11-2-24-1, L Johnson 4-0-9-0.
Result: West Indies won by 297 runs.
Man of the match:
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
West Indies won Dhaka Bank Test series 2-0
West Indies won Dhaka Bank ODIs 3-0
The lone Dhaka Bank T20 was washed out.
Player of the series: Kraigg Brathwaite.
