Hosts West Indies tightened the grip on the Antigua Test on the opening day after Bangladesh batted poorly in the first innings on Thursday. The opening day was a miserable day for the Tigers as they failed to bat well and also failed to field in a way they needed most. In reply to Bangladesh’s paltry first innings of 103 runs, the Windies made 95 for two in 48 overs to end day one. Kraigg Brathwaite and Nkrumah Bonner remained unbeaten for 42 and 12 respectively. Bangladeshi pacers bowled lion-heartedly but the fielders failed them missing three catches. Also read: Antigua Test: Bangladesh 103 all out in first-innings In the first 15 overs, West Indies scored only 15 runs. They started their first innings on a cautious note on the brown wicket that has plenty of help for the pacers. They lost the first wicket in 44 runs Mustafizur Rahman, who was playing his first Test after a long gap, scalped the wicket of John Campbell for 24. Raymon Reifer was the second Windies man to fall. Ebadot Hossain took the second wicket. Earlier, the hosts won the toss and bowled first. They scalped three wickets inside 31 runs, and six wickets inside the first session. Six Bangladeshi batters failed to add anything to their names. It was the first time in cricket’s history when a team suffered six ducks in two consecutive Tests. Bangladesh’s last six ducks came against Sri Lanka last month at home. But centuries from Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das had concealed the batting failure. But this time around, Shakib Al Hasan was the only Bangladeshi batter to show some resistance. He made 51. Apart from Shakib, Tamim Iqbal (29) and Liton Das (12) were the only other batters to have scored a double-digit innings. “I have no explanation of this batting display,” Shakib, the Bangladesh captain said in the post-day briefing. “I don’t have anything to say about this batting. I’m not sure anyone in our team has any explanation.” While scoring 29, Tamim became the second Bangladeshi batter after Mushfiqur Rahim to have scored 5000 runs in Tests. Also read: Tamim becomes fastest Bangladeshi to score 5000 runs in Test Jayden Seales and Alzarri Joseph bagged three wickets each for the hosts while Kemar Roach and Kyle Mayers took two wickets each. After a dismal show on the opening day, Bangladesh have already in trouble in this Test. The Tigers need to demonstrate something big to come out of this situation in Antigua.

Right-arm Bangladeshi pacer Ebadot Hossian scalped three wickets on the second day of the three-day practice match between Bangladesh XI and Cricket West Indies President XI in Antigua. Bangladesh scored 310 for seven and declared their first innings. Tamim Iqbal scored 162 for the visitors. In reply, CWI President XI scored 201 for four at the end of day two. Jeremy Solozano of CWI President XI scored 89 and remained unbeaten while Tagenarine Chanderpaul scored 59 for them. Also read: ICC Men's Best Cricketer Award January 2022: Ebadot Named in Final Three For Bangladesh, Ebadot bagged three wickets conceding 51 runs in 12 overs while Rejaur Rahman Raja took one wicket. After this tour match, Bangladesh and West Indies will take on each other in a two-match Test, three-match ODI and three-match T20I series. The first Test of the series will begin on June 16 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua and the second Test will be played at Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia from June 24. Also read: We had one goal— to beat New Zealand at their home: Ebadot While the first two T20Is will be played at Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica on July 2 and 3 respectively, the third T20I and all three ODIs will be played at Providence Stadium, Guyana on July 10, 13 and 16 respectively.

Bangladesh need 231 to level Test series against West Indies in the Dhaka Test.