SOUTHAMPTON, 16 September 2004 — Giant fast bowler Mervyn Dillon bowled West Indies into the last eight of the Champions Trophy with a devastating spell to destroy Bangladesh here yesterday.
Trinidadian Dillon, who stands 6ft 6ins (2 meters), ripped through the Bangladesh top order with a spell of four for six in 24 balls on the way to a West Indian win by 131 runs.
Dillon, who has lost his Test place, finished with impressive figures of 5-29 as Bangladesh fell to 131 all out in reply to West Indies’ total of 269-3 from their 50 overs.
The pace bowler struck in his second, third, fourth and fifth overs to remove Javed Omar, Nafis Iqbal, Khaled Mashud and Bangladesh’s 20-year-old captain Rajin Saleh.
The only resistance came in a stand of 45 for the sixth wicket between Aftab Ahmed and Mushfiqur Rahman which ended when Dwayne Bravo bowled Aftab for a defiant 21. Khaled Mahmud hit an aggressive 34 to finish as his side’s top scorer and shared a partnership of 26 for the final wicket but their stand only delayed the inevitable.
Earlier, Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds hit 192 for the first West Indian wicket as Bangladesh struggled to contain their opponents at the Rose Bowl. Gayle and Hinds both took advantage of fielding lapses as West Indies finished with a formidable score of 269-3. Gayle made 99 and Hinds hit 82 but both were missed in the field during their partnership which equaled the best for a first wicket stand in the Champions Trophy set by Indian pair Virender Sehwag and Saurav Ganguly against England in 2002.
Gayle was eventually caught behind by Khaled Mashud just one run short of his tenth One-Day century but not before he had laid the foundations for a solid West Indian score.
The left-hander was fortunate to survive a sharp return chance at 46 to Khaled Mahmud while Hinds was lucky not to be given out at 28 when television replays showed he had been caught behind off the same bowler. Hinds hit two sixes and eight fours before, in an attempt to hurry the score along, he lifted Tapash Baisya to long off where 16-year-old Nazmul Hossain judged the catch to perfection.
Brain Lara wasted no time in building on the start given his side by their openers hitting two sixes in an over from left arm spinner Mohammad Rafique. Baisya ended Lara’s blossoming innings at 20 when he ran out the West Indian captain backing up in a sharp piece of fielding. It was left to Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul to get the West Indians through the final five overs in which they added 37 runs. Baisya was the pick of the medium paced Bangladesh attack ending with figures of two for 58 while teenager Hossain conceded 44 runs from his ten overs.
