GROS ISLET, St. Lucia, 29 May 2004 — Habibul Bashar completed his third Test hundred, as Bangladesh continued their defiance before rain prompted an early tea break on the opening day of the opening cricket Test against West Indies yesterday.
Choosing to bat, the visitors had reached 166 for two at the tea break with Bashar, the Bangladesh captain, undefeated on 111 and Rajin Saleh not out on 10 when an unexpected shower arrived about 50 minutes before the break. Bashar pulled a short delivery from fast bowler Tino Best to long leg for a single to arrive at his landmark and has smote 15 boundaries from 124 balls in just over three hours to be the rock upon which his side has built their total.
West Indies’ only success before the break was Javed Omar. The opening batsman was caught at gully off left-arm medium-fast bowler Pedro Collins for 32 to end a 121-run partnership with his captain that had put the home team on the back foot before lunch.
Bashar and the circumspect Omar had taken Bangladesh to 101 for one at the lunch interval, after the visitors made an inauspicious start. Opening batsman Hannan Sarkar was adjudged lbw to the first ball of the match from Collins for zero.
With the West Indies fast bowlers emasculated by the benign nature of the Beausejour Stadium pitch and not helping their cause with wayward bowling, Bashar and Omar mixed sound defense with aggression to stage a brave recovery for the minnows of international cricket.
Omar was also fortunate though, having been dropped on seven when he whipped a sharp chance to forward short leg fielder Dwayne Smith off Fidel Edwards. On 36, Bashar too, had top-edged a hook at a delivery from Jermaine Lawson, but wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs could only get his fingertips to the ball. It might not have mattered anyhow, since umpire Daryll Harper signaled leg byes.
Collins has been the most successful West Indies bowler with two wickets for 59 runs from 13 overs. Bangladesh omitted Alamgir Kabir, Alok Kapali, Enamul Haque Jr, Manjural Islam Rana from their touring party of 15 which meant Faisal Hossain and Tareq Aziz are making their Test debuts.
West Indies left out unorthodox left-arm spin bowler Dave Mohammed and fast bowler Ravi Rampaul from their squad of 13. The second match of the two-Test series will be contested at Kingston from June 4.
PCB Officials Asked to Explain India Defeat
A Pakistani parliamentary committee has summoned top cricket officials to explain the country’s first ever home defeat by India, officials said in Karachi yesterday.
“The standing committee of the Senate on sports and culture has summoned Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials to tell us the reasons of Pakistan’s defeats against India,” Senator Anwer Baig said.
“Every other man is concerned and losing interest in the game after the defeat at the hands of India and wants to know what are the reasons,” said Baig, a committee member who belongs to the main opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
Sports Minister Raees Munir, PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan, chief executive Rameez Raja and chief selector Wasim Bari will participate in the open discussion at the upper house committee today, he said.
During their first tour across the border since 1989, India won the five-match One-Day series 3-2 and the three-match Test series 2-1, their first ever wins on Pakistani soil last month. The Pakistan team came in for severe criticism after losing the decisive third Test by an innings and 131 runs. PCB later formed a medical commission to look into a spate of injuries to key players.
Newspaper reports have said Raja may be facing the ax as officials ring the changes in Pakistan’s cricket administration. However, Baig said the cricket officials would have been summoned even if Pakistan had not lost to their main rivals.
“No, even if we had lost in this manner to a team like Sri Lanka or Bangladesh we would have done the same,” he said.
