Mahmudullah triple rocks WI

West Indies were pegged back by a twin strike from Mahmudullah in the penultimate over prior to lunch, after Dale Richards had hit an attractive fifty to get them off to a good start. 

West Indies were cruising at 104 for 1 when Mahmudullah lured Richards, who had just hit a six, to drive loosely back to him. One ball later, Mahmudullah induced the same mistake from Ryan Hinds to lead Bangladesh's revival. 

Until then, Richards had seized the advantage for West Indies with his positive strokeplay. Richards drove, cut and pulled his way to an attacking half-century. The seamers - Shahadat Hossain and Rubel Hossain - tried to hit the full length on a damp pitch but there wasn't much seam movement on offer. Richards took full toll. He started with couple of fluent drives and a smashing pull against Rubel before lifting the same bowler to the long-on boundary. He tried to impose himself against the spinners as well. He cut and pulled Shakib Al Hasan but the highlight was a lofted hit over long-on against the same bowler. He looked good when he got on to the front foot against spin, and had a few iffy moments when he went back to arm-deliveries from Shakib and Enamul Haque Jr. 


Omar Phillips, the other opener, played a strange little innings. He was a pale shadow of the batsman who made the highest score for West Indies in the last Test. He kept edging the seamers and struggled against spinners, and played some poor cricket to get out. He had just been dropped at mid-on but he tried to go for another big shot in the same over and holed out to deep midwicket.