KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, 17 May 2004 — Fidel Edwards flicked a delivery from Mohammad Rafique through square leg for a single to formalize a nail-biting, yet unconvincing West Indies one-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the opening One-Day International of their three-match series on Saturday.
Chasing a modest target of 145 to win, West Indies slumped to 133 for nine and had to rely on their last wicket pair of Edwards and Ian Bradshaw, two of their most inexperienced players, to take them to the jackpot with 20 balls to spare. West Indies now lead the series 1-0 with the second ODI scheduled again for the Arnos Vale Playing Field. Ricardo Powell hit half-dozen boundaries in the top score of 52 from 64 balls, but he too, was guilty of the thoughtless, careless batting that almost sunk West Indies.
Left-arm spin bowler Manjural Islam Rana again showed that he could be Bangladesh’s main weapon on this trip with three wickets for 21 runs from 10 overs and Khaled Mahmud took two for 15 from 10 overs.
Fast bowler Tino Best captured four wickets for 35 runs from 10 overs on his ODI debut for West Indies, as Bangladesh were restricted 144 for eight from their allotment of 50 overs.
Mohammed Rafique hit the only six of the innings in the top score of 32 not out from 59 balls and Khaled Mashud scored 30 not out from 75 balls in a stand of 62, unbroken, for the ninth wicket that brought some respectability to the Bangladesh innings.
West Indies appeared to be coasting slowly, but surely to victory when they reached 81 for two. The wickets of Chanderpaul, lbw to Manjural’s third delivery for 15 in the 26th over, and Powell, bowled playing an ill-advised back-foot drive off Mahmud in the 29th, opened the floodgates.
