BD look to keep winning at newest venue

Sunday, July 26, 2009
ROSEAU, Dominica: Bangladesh hope to christen international cricket's newest venue with victories in the first three one-dayers against West Indies on Sunday (today) at Windsor Park here.

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 have 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.

For West Indies coach John Dyson, apart from winning, there is only one other thing on his mind.

"I'm looking forward to the ODIs, but what I'd like to see is a hard, pacy, bouncy pitch," said Dyson.

"The two Test matches were closely fought. It wasn't a case where we were thrashed in either of the matches. We could have won both, so I don't think there's much in it."

West Indies have recalled left-hander Devon Smith and fellow Grenadian Andre Fletcher, and included uncapped left-hander Kieran Powell to shore up their batting.

Leg-spinner Rawl Lewis has also been recalled and uncapped fast-medium bowler Gavin Tonge has received his first call-up.

The rest of the side, which is again being led by left-handed batsman Floyd Reifer, comprises mostly the players that played in the Tests, as well as fast bowler Nelon Pascal, who was part of the Test squad, but did not play in either of the two matches.

The first two ODIs will be staged at Windsor Park which has been significantly upgraded at a cost 17 million dollars, 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 on Friday next week at Warner Park in St Kitts which also stages a Twenty20 International between the two sides two days later.