Bangladesh look to keep winning at newest venue

DOMINICA: Bangladesh hopes to christen international cricket's newest venue with victories in the first three one-dayers against West Indies on Sunday at Windsor Park in Dominica.

The Tigers would have probably had low expectations prior to their arrival in the Caribbean, but fortune favoured them when the leading West Indies players chose to boycott the series.

Their replacements were no match for the Bangladeshis, who convincingly swept the two-Test series to gain the boost of confidence that their appointed captain and leading fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza set as one of their objectives.

Sadly, Mortaza played only a minor role in the Test series triumph, following a fall which aggravated a previous right knee injury, and has sidelined him for the three ODIs and the Twenty20 International to follow.

Shakib Al Hasan will lead the side as he did during the Tests, and will hope to build on his performances which led to him winning the man-of-the-series award.

"We are looking forward to the ODI series too, and we want to continue winning," said left-arm spin bowling all-rounder.

"The boys have been playing really well, and God willing, we can also win the ODI series."

Bangladesh has added left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, all-rounder Naeem Islam, and medium-fast bowler Syed Rasel for the series.

Razzak is the most experienced with 111 wickets at 27.90 in 81 ODIs and will be looking to exploit the frailty of the West Indies batsmen to spin bowling which was so apparent in the Tests.

But he will also be looking to give solid proof that his bowling action is no longer suspect, following his suspension in December last year, after playing against South Africa last November like Naeem and Rasel.

West Indies too, have recruited some troops to fortify their side, but the big names like Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor and Denesh Ramdin remain absent although the players' boycott has ended.

The players and the West Indies Cricket Board have agreed to arbitration, but the decision came after the announcement of the squad for the first two ODIs.

It is still not clear whether West Indies will start filtering the leading players back into the line-up for the last ODI or the Twenty20 match.

The first two ODIs will be staged at Windsor Park which has been significantly upgraded at a cost of $20.85 million, and allows Dominica to host its first international matches.

The ground, which was levelled out of a rubbish dump a couple decades ago, now accommodates state-of-the-art facilities featuring 10,000 seats and was a gift from China at the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

The series concludes Friday next week at Warner Park in St Kitts, which also stages a Twenty20 International between the two sides two days later.

Squads:
West Indies: Floyd Reifer (captain), Darren Sammy, Dave Bernard Jr, Travis Dowlin, Andre Fletcher, Rawl Lewis, Nikita Miller, Nelon Pascal, Kieran Powell, Dale Richards, Kemar Roach, Devon Smith, Devon Thomas, Gavin Tonge.

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Abdur Razzak, Imrul Kayes, Junaid Siddique, Mahbubul Alam, Mahmudullah, Mehrab Hossain Jr, Mohammad Ashraful, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Raqibul Hasan, Rubel Hossain, Syed Rasel, Tamim Iqbal.