AFTER two humiliating defeats to Bangladesh, strokeplayer Marlon Samuels (126) and spinner Sunil Narine’s (4 for 37) superlative performances rekindled West Indies’ hope to battle for honours and salvage some pride in the five-match One Day Internationals series being contested in the Asian sub-continent.

The Darren Sammy-led West Indies celebrated a hard-fought two-Test series victory over the host nation but were surprisingly severely beaten in the first two one-dayers played at the Sheik Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna.
Before the ODIs series started, Sammy had openly stated that his team was aiming for and primed for a “whitewash”, meaning winning all five matches.
However, the star-studded West Indies team who won the ICC World T20 championship in Sri Lanka and had inflicted Test and One-Day series victory over Bangladesh last year; were given a rude awakening by a weakened Bangladesh team who surprisingly won the first two matches comprehensively by seven wickets and 160 runs respectively.
The 160-run triumph in the second match was Bangladesh biggest run-margin win over all-comers and the pressure was now on West Indies to respond and reverse the losing streak to the homesters.
Bangladesh had lost the services of the most experienced player and the world-rated number one all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan before the series started and then to compound their woes they introduced four new players to ODIs competition.
And after their defeats in the Test series, they definitely started as the underdogs with four debutants Anamul Haque, Shohag Gazi, Momimul Haque and Abul Hasan in their line-up.
But to their credit, the youngsters showed absolutely no signs of nerves and were never overawed by the reputation and stature of the highly-paid West Indian players.
In fact, they performed beyond all expectations and allowed the teeming millions of Bangladeshis supporters to celebrate historic victories over the highly-vaunted West Indians.
Bangladesh’s convincing seven-wicket victory in the first one-dayer was triggered by debutant spinner Shohag Gazi who was well-supported by left-armer Abdur Razzak.
Gazi outfoxed West Indies two leading batsmen Christopher Gayle (35) and Marlon Samuels and then added wicketkeeper Devon Thomas and topscorer Sunil Narine (36) to finish with 4 for 29 while Razzak claimed three for 39, as West Indies were restricted to 199 all out. It would have been worse had it not been for a 57-run ninth-wicket partnership between Narine (36) and Ravi Rampaul (25) after the visitors were tottering at 133 for 8.
Newcomer Anamul Haque (41), promoted to the opener’s spot alongside the attacking Tamin Iqbal (58) displayed fine temperament and shared an enterprising 88-run first-wicket partnership that laid the platform for their heart-warming victory with 58 balls to spare.
The impressive Haque followed up with a scintillating 120, his maiden international century that was studded with two confident sixes and thirteen fours off 145 balls in the second match played at the same venue.
West Indian new-ball bowler Ravi Rampaul registered his career-best of 5 for 49 but tasted defeat after Bangladesh posted 292 for 6 off their allotted 50 overs. Gazi (3 for 21) and Razzak (3 for 19) were the main destroyers again as West Indies folded for a paltry 132 in 31.1 overs. The 160-run defeat was the fourth highest margin for a West Indian team.
It should be noted that three of the outstanding West Indians in the Test team that secured the 2-0 victory over Bangladesh in the two-match Test series were already back in the Caribbean.
The reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul who scored two centuries, wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin who scored one century and was outstanding with the gloves and fast bowler Tino Best with two five-wicket haul in the fourth innings of both Tests.
It was left to the in-form Samuels, who made a career-high 260 in the second Test; to rally West Indies team to a face-saving victory in the third ODIs at the Shere Bangla Stadium in Dhaka.
It was a relief for the team and West Indian supporters who are now hoping that the other established players will lift their performances and help the team to bounce back and salvage some pride against the lowly ranked Bangladeshi team.
In his first year of international cricket, Narine made a strong impression with outstanding performances against New Zealand and in the ICC World T20 competition, but he struggled to exercise the same level of effectiveness on the slower pitches in Bangladesh and was not a major contributor with the ball in the two Tests and the first two ODIs.
The Shere Bangla pitch offered some assistance and with clever variations he imposed his presence and finished with 4 for 37, his second-best career performance and in the process helped restrict Bangladesh to 227 in 49.1 overs.
Debutant Permaul made a good impact in the Test matches with eight wickets and was the most economical bowler.
Given his first chance in the ODIs during the third match, the left-arm spinner further strengthened his claims for more international matches as he created immense pressure during the middle overs. He prised out skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and talented strokeplayer Nasir Hosain and finished with two wickets for 40 from 10 overs.
Based on his outstanding showing in the Test series, many observers felt that he would be a factor in the shorter format when opposing teams would be seeking to play attacking cricket in their quest for challenging totals.
On many other occasions, Bangladesh 227 would have been totally inadequate to challenge the might of the West Indies.
Surprisingly, hard-hitting opener Gayle failed again but Samuels did not disappoint and found a useful partner from opener Kieran Powell (47) and together they repaired the early damage and was associated in a 111-run second-wicket partnership that revived hopes of an easy victory.
While the other middle-order batsmen failed, Samuels paced his innings beautifully and when Rahim made the crucial blunder of replacing Momimul Haque with pacer Rubel Hasan, he hastened the victory with two effortless sixes and three fours in the over. That boundary-studded blitz eased the tension and West Indies triumph with four wickets intact and three overs to spare.
It was Samuels’ fourth ODIs century and second for the year; which eased the heartache and headaches from the two crushing defeats sustained earlier. He surpassed his maiden ODIs ton, 108 not out versus India at the Indira Gandhi Stadium and engineered a massive 135-run victory in the seventh and decisive match in which the Carl Hooper-led team beat the Indians by a 4-3 margin.
His second was an unbeaten 100 versus Pakistan at the Multan Stadium on December 13, 2006 which piloted West Indies to a seven-wicket victory while his third was recorded earlier this year against New Zealand at Sabina Park where West Indies celebrated a 55-run win against the tourists.
Gayle made 129 while Samuels was undefeated on 101 as West Indies amassed 315 for 5. The Jamaican all-rounder claimed two wickets for 46 and ushered home the victory as the Kiwis were bowled for 260 in 47 overs.
The enthusiastic Jamaican crowd celebrated lustily as the nation was also celebrating its ‘Golden Jubilee’ Independence Anniversary (50 years).
Samuels dedicated his latest match-winning knock to his country’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson but heroism also kept West Indies chances open to still battle for supremacy in the two remaining matches.
With confidence restored, the full-fledged West Indies should produce the match-winning performances expected from them especially against a team that has so many newcomers and a team who have only beaten a depleted West Indies only once in the 2009 ODIs series in the Caribbean.