Tamim Iqbal hit a maiden test hundred as Bangladesh moved towards safety to take control of the game first Digicel test match against the West Indies in St. Vincent yesterday.

Iqbal also shared a 128-run stand with Junaid Siddique to hand Bangladesh a 252-run lead by the end of the fourth day’s play in St Vincent.

However, if they (Bangladesh) do not manage to bowl out West Indies on the final day (today), they might wonder if they have erred by not scoring at a faster clip yesterday.

West Indies did not allow Bangladesh to get away at a frenetic, match-controlling, pace with a disciplined line-and-length bowling but perhaps, Bangladesh were worried about repeating their first-innings collapse and opted for the safety-first tactic; they didn’t try to quicken the pace until post-tea.

Tamim started the third session like a runaway express, hitting David Bernard to all parts of the ground – a crunching pull hopping on one leg and a thunderous wallop over wide mid-off being the highlights – but fell, going for the fifth boundary in the over. With his exit, the momentum started to slowly shift and when Siddique fell, squeezing Sammy to gully, it slowed down further and with Mohammad Ashraful falling cheaply, yet again, Bangladesh were forced to return to the cautious route.

Till, his end-of-the-day blitz, Tamim had steered the side calmly, playing almost out of character. In the past, he has paid for his over aggression but yesterday, he was careful not to cross that line. He looked for his favourite off drives and didn’t flinch from cutting if the ball was short. When Tino Best hurled sharp bouncers at him, he swayed away calmly but when it was short and wide enough to cut, he went for it. In the second session, he grew more sedate, concentrating on defense and singles and fetched the odd boundary here and reached his hundred off the 206th ball – the most he has ever faced in a Test innings – with a push to point region.

He did have his share of luck, though. He was 34 when Floyd Reifer dropped a sitter at slips off the bowling of Darren Sammy and when he was on 76 Omar Phillips dropped another easy chance at midwicket off Ryan Austin.

Siddique gave him company post-lunch and he started the session with two cut boundaries against Kemar Roach but he too settled down to score at a gentle pace. With the bowling looking unthreatening as the session wore on, he picked singles easily without breaking much sweat. He looked to get on the front foot for his drives and looked set for his maiden hundred but the new ball found him out as he edged Sammy to gully.

Tamim had Keyes for company for much of the first session. Keyes chose to adhesively stick to the crease, intent on blocking everything thrown against it. He was aware of his off stump and left many a delivery alone, only defending what he had to play at. However, he lost patience when Austin tempted him with a flighted delivery and drove it straight to short cover.

For their part, West Indies struck gamely to their task on hand on a slow pitch. Sammy and Kemar Roach attacked the left-handed batsmen from around the stumps, punctuating the length deliveries coming in with ones that straightened outside off stump. It was a game of patience. Sammy, in particular, was disciplined and was unlucky to have gone wicketless. He saw Tamim being dropped in the slip and, in the same over, he got another edge but the ball flew between slip and gully. Later, he went past the outside edge couple more times but couldn’t get the edge. He found some luck in the last session, removing Siddique with a full delivery that moved away and inducing Raqibul Hossain to chop on to the stumps.

Sammy was well supported by Roach, who attacked mainly from round the stumps today. He had tended to push a tad too much across to the left-handed batsmen in the first innings but he switched the angle today and kept it fuller than the rest. He even slipped in couple of very good yorkers but they were well dug out by Tamim. He dragged a couple short in the second session before the spinners Austin and Nikita Miller took over the burden.

Austin did his part; he flighted his deliveries from a high-arm action and attacked with men crowding the bat. The suffocation nearly worked when Tamim slogged him across the line to wide midwicket but it fell safely. He continued to chip away relentlessly, never afraid to flight the ball but couldn’t break through. Miller bowled a flatter trajectory and didn’t taste any success. It would be interesting to see how Bangladesh spinners bowl on the final-day track. That could dictate the fate of the match.