Kingston, Jamaica— First rain, then opener Shadman Islam with an unbeaten, patient half century added to the West Indies’ frustrations on the opening day of the second Test at Sabina Park on Saturday.
Only 30 overs were possible after overnight showers left the outfield waterlogged, with Bangladesh ending the day on 69 for two from 30 overs when play finally resumed at 3 pm.
Things could have been even worse for Bangladesh had the West Indies held on to their catches.
The visitors might have been questioning their decision to bat first after winning the toss, when Kemar Roach struck two early blows to put them on the backfoot.
With just eight runs on the board, the veteran fast bowler deceived Mahmudul Hasan Joy with an outswinger that caught the outside edge of his bat, and wicketkeeper Joshua DaSilva dived to his right to take a good catch.
And two runs later, Roach struck again with another delivery that moved away from Mominul Haque, which he could only glove behind to DaSilva.
Shahadat Hossain joined Islam at the crease, and the two defied the West Indies’ quartet of fast bowlers for the remainder of the evening during an unbeaten 59-run partnership for the third wicket.
Hossain was fortunate when his slash off a wide delivery from Roach flew over the slip corridor for a welcomed boundary for Bangladesh.
Despite being overly cautious, Shadman was quick to pounce on anything short and wide, as Alzarri Joseph found out when he bowled a wide delivery outside the offstump and was dispatched to backward point for four.
He was lucky not to be dismissed when he was 35, but captain Kraigg Brathwaite spilt a chance at short cover off the bowling of Justin Greaves.
And two runs later, Hossain was the beneficiary of another dropped catch, this time Athanaze failing to hold on to a chance at second slip, while Kavem Hodge failed to gather the subsequent rebound.
Shadman eventually brought up his fourth Test half century off 93 balls when he cut Hodge to point for a single before bad light ended play the following over.
Shadman ended unbeaten on 50 from 100 balls, while Hossain is not out on 12 from 63 balls.
Roach has so far taken 2-20 from his seven overs. (CMC)
