By Clifton Ross at Providence
BELLIGERENT half-centuries from opener Kyle Mayers and West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran piloted the Caribbean Boys to a clean 2-nil sweep of the series, leaving Bangladesh with more questions than answers, heading into the ODI series this weekend.

Bangladesh, batting first, racked up a formidable 163-5 in 20 overs. In-form power-hitter Afif Hossain smashed 50 off 38 with 2 fours 2 sixes, while opener Litton Das found some form with 49 off 41, stroking 3 fours and a pair of maximums.

Afif added 57 runs with Das for the 3rd wicket, while veteran Mahmudullah (22) steadied things at the backend, sharing a 49-run partnership with Afif.
Windies leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr returned figures of 2-25 while pacers Romario Shepherd (1-19) and Odean Smith (1-34) lent ideal support with the ball.

Pooran and Mayers added 85 runs for the 4th wicket, a partnership which practically sealed the series for the hosts as the latter cracked 55 from just 38 balls with 5 big sixes and a pair of fours.
The skipper finished with an unbeaten knock of 74 off 39 balls with five fours and five towering sixes, as the Windies surged to 169-5 in 18.2 overs. Bangladesh left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed was the pick of the lot with 2-44.

Early morning torrential rains almost sprang a scare, but ground inspection at 13:45hrs yielded good news of a 14:00hrs starting time with no reduction to overs.
The West Indies chase got off to a mixed start as Brandon King (7) clobbered a big six and looked to be as dangerous as he did last game, only to be dismissed caught, victim to Ahmed.

Shamarh Brooks (12) took the opposite approach and immediately hit back-to-back fours before falling to Hasan while Smith (2) was trapped lbw by Shakib in his first over.
Mayers muscled the team’s first 6 and continued his aggression but the Bangladeshi bowlers had already begun to make inroads.

Pooran came to the middle and West Indies notched up their 50-run mark in the 8th over with runs coming easily.
The pair of left-handers went into attack mode,, picking apart the Bangladeshi bowlers as they surged to a fifty-partnership but more importantly, closer to sweeping the series.

Mayers, a little after reaching his fifty, succumbed to a delivery from spinner Mehedi Hasan (1-21) while Pooran smashed consecutive fours to bring up his own half-century as, the final nails were being driven into the coffin.
Pooran continued to play his shots, finding the boundary and eventually finishing the game with a massive six to cheers and celebration from the Providence crowd.

When play began, Bangladesh openers Anamul Haque (10) and Das were watchful but timely in their approach.
They found the ropes on a few occasions early in the power-play, even surviving an appeal for caught-behind off an aggressive first over from left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein.

Hosein then managed to repay the near-call by aiding Smith, as he snapped up an amazing catch at the fine-leg boundary off the pacer to dismiss Haque.
At 35-1, all-star Shakib Al-Hasan (4) announced himself immediately with a blistering four as he seemed intent on continuing from where he left off in game 2.

However, the introduction of hometown boy Shepherd proved even more effective as Shakib made a wily attempt to smash the pacer, only to pick out a lurking Smith in the mid-wicket area who completed an easy catch.
Despite a few setbacks, the Tigers reached their team’s 50 in the 8th over, with Das, even breaking out the slog-sweep to smash Hosein for the first 6 of the Bangladesh innings.

Das followed up with an even better stroke, upwardly driving Smith over extra-cover for a lofted six, as Afif kept the pressure on as well, with an array of strokes which was key in their 50-run partnership.
However, just one run away from 50 Das misfired a shot and was out caught, but not before Afif showed his full aggression.

He assaulted the Windies bowlers on his way to a half-century but was unfortunately run-out in the penultimate over, but not before Mahmudullah and Mossadek Hossein (10*) finished things off with a few boundaries of their own.