Gros-Islet (Saint Lucia): A record opening partnership in Tests against Bangladesh and untidy cricket by the tourists contributed to the West Indies reaching 246 for three at stumps on the first day of the second and final Test at the Beausejour Stadium on Saturday.
Debutant Leon Johnson (66), playing in place of the unavailable veteran opening batsman Chris Gayle, and Kraigg Brathwaite (63) put on 143 for the first wicket after Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and chose to field first.
Their stand eclipsed the previous record established by Gayle and fellow-Jamaican Wavell Hinds in Dhaka in 2002.
Yet as well as the makeshift opening pair performed, Bangladesh’s opening bowlers aided the opponents with an indisciplined effort through the morning session, ironically when the pitch was at its most helpful to the seamers. Despite a much-improved performance in the second session, when Johnson and Brathwaite were removed, the visitors’ efforts to make further inroads into the batting line-up were thwarted by their own errors in the field. (PTI)
