SYL­HET, Bangladesh – West In­dies A met re­sis­tance from Bangladesh A open­ers Mah­mudul Hasan Joy and Za­kir Hasan af­ter an­oth­er strong bat­ting per­for­mance en­abled them to make a sec­ond in­nings de­c­la­ra­tion in the third “Test” on Thurs­day.

Con­sis­tent bat­ting down the or­der led by Tage­nar­ine Chan­der­paul with an un­beat­en 83 en­abled the vis­i­tors to de­clare on 220 for five in their sec­ond in­nings about an hour be­fore the close on the third day of the four-day, first-class con­test at the Syl­het In­ter­na­tion­al Crick­et Sta­di­um, set­ting the Bangladeshis 461 to win.

The Caribbean side failed to make in­roads in­to the Bangladesh A bat­ting in 13.5 overs be­fore bad light stopped play ear­ly with Mah­mudul not out on 28 and Za­kir not out on 14, and the hosts 47 with­out loss in their sec­ond in­nings.

West In­dies A lead the three-match se­ries 1-0 af­ter the first “Test” end­ed in a draw two Fri­days ago at the same venue, where they won the sec­ond “Test” that fin­ished last Fri­day by three wick­ets and will be look­ing to fin­ish off their op­po­nents on Fri­day to put a seal of ap­proval on a suc­cess­ful trip.

Ear­li­er, Guyana Harpy Ea­gles left-arm spin­ner Veerasam­my Per­maul end­ed with three for 38 from 13 overs, and led the West In­dies A de­mo­li­tion of the bot­tom half of the Bangladesh A bat­ting in the first hour with the hosts bowled out for 205 to con­cede a first in­nings lead of 240.

The on­ly re­sis­tance the Caribbean side en­coun­tered came from Na­sum Ahmed, whose 38 not out was the top score, and helped the Bangladeshis pass the 200 mark af­ter they con­tin­ued from their overnight to­tal of 157 for sev­en.

Per­maul bowled Tanz­im Hasan Sak­ib for 17 with the last ball of the first over of the day, got Shori­ful Is­lam caught at slip for 13, and held a re­turn catch to dis­miss last man Mus­fik Hasan for a first-ball duck to bring the Bangladesh A first in­nings to a close.

With the weath­er a con­stant threat through­out the se­ries, West In­dies A chased quick runs to put them­selves in a place to de­clare be­fore stumps were drawn.

Harpy Ea­gles left-hand­ed open­er Chan­der­paul, son of for­mer West In­dies cap­tain Shiv­nar­ine Chan­der­paul, an­chored the in­nings with typ­i­cal­ly de­fi­ant bat­ting that yield­ed sev­en fours and one six from 165 balls in a lit­tle more than four hours.

He shared a few tidy part­ner­hips along the way, in­clud­ing 69 for the fourth wick­et at more than five runs an over with his cap­tain Joshua Da Sil­va, to give the vis­i­tors the mo­men­tum to achieve their late de­c­la­ra­tion.

Da Sil­va made 47, Tevin Im­lach was not out on 28, Al­ick Athanaze got 27, and Kirk McKen­zie added 20; off-spin­ner Saif Has­san was the most suc­cess­ful Bangladesh A bowler, tak­ing three for 62 from 20.2 overs and Na­sum end­ed with two for 56 from 13 overs.

BRIEF SCORES

WEST IN­DIES A 445 (Tage­nar­ine Chan­der­paul 83, Joshua Da Sil­va 82, Kevin Sin­clair 60, Al­ick Athanaze 59, Ray­mon Reifer 56, Akeem Jor­dan 47; Na­sum Ahmed 38.2-8-133-5, Mush­fik Hasan 2-59) and 220 for five de­clared (Tage­nar­ine Chan­der­paul 83 not out, Joshua Da Sil­va 47, Tevin Im­lach 28 not out, Al­ick Athanaze 27, Kirk McKen­zie 20; Saif Has­san 3-62, Na­sum Ahmed 2-56).

BANGLADESH A 205 (Na­sum Ahmed 38 not out, Saif Has­san 32, Za­kir Has­san 29, Nu­rul Hasan 28; Veerasam­my Per­maul 3-38, An­der­son Phillip 2-36, Kevin Sin­clair 2-75) and 47 with­out loss (Mah­mudul Hasan Joy 28 not out).

CMC ed/23

(CMC)