BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WINDIES need 302 to win the decisive third iPay One-day International, after Tamim Iqbal hit his 11th ODI hundred and Mahmudullah muscled an unbeaten half-century to lead Bangladesh’s batting on Saturday here.
No WINDIES bowler distinguished themselves, but Tamim covered himself in personal glory with seven fours and two sixes in 103 from 124 balls and Mahmudullah struck five fours and three sixes in 67 not out off 49 balls to be the rocks upon which the Bangladeshis built a total of 301 for six in 50 overs, after they chose to bat on a typical Warner Park featherbed pitch under sunny skies.
Off-spinner Ashley Nurse and WINDIES captain Jason Holder two wickets apiece, but left-handed opener Tamim batted freely from the start, sharing 81 for the second wicket Shakib-Al-Hasan, and later drove Nurse to long-off for a single to reach his landmark from 120 balls in the 38th over.
The WINDIES bowlers however, failed to put a cap on visitors’ batting in the closing stages with Mahmudullah leading the charge, sharing a 53-run stand with Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza, as 97 came in the last 10 overs.
Anamul Haque was caught at mid-on by Kieran Powell off Jason Holder for 10 from a miscued hook (35-1, 9.3 overs)
Shakib-Al-Hasan was caught at deep square leg by Keemo Paul off Nurse for 37, top-edged a slog/sweep (116-2, 25.3 overs)
Mushfiqur Rahim was bowled by Ashley Nurse for 12, essaying a scoop to fine leg (152-3, 31.1 overs)
Tamim was caught at square leg by Powell off leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo for 103 from a flawed whip (200-4, 38.5 overs)
Mashrafe Mortaza was caught at short third man by Chris Gayle off Holder for 43, guiding a short, rising delivery (253-5, 45.5 overs)
Sabbir Rahman was caught at backward point by Evin Lewis off Sheldon Cottrell for 12, slicing a drive (279-6, 48.4 overs)
Bowling: Cottrell 9-0-59-1 (nb1, w2); Holder 10-0-55-2 (w2); Bishoo 10-1-42-1 (w2); Paul 9-0-77-0 (w1); Nurse 10-1-53-2 (w2); Gayle 2-0-14-0 (w2)
WINDIES made two changes, bringing hometown boy Kieran Powell and left-arm fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell in to replace Jason Mohammed and Alzarri Joseph, while Bangladesh were unchanged.
The three-match series is level 1-1, after Bangladesh won the first ODI by 48 runs last Sunday at the Guyana National Stadium, where the WINDIES bounced back to clinch a series-levelling win by three runs three days later.
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