West Indies fast bowler Pedro Collins bowls during his six-wicket haul against Bangladesh during the fourth day of the second test match at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, yesterday.
KINGSTON, Jamaica - Pedro Collins claimed his best Test innings figures as Bangladesh crashed dramatically after determined resistance from their fourth-wicket pair, losing their last seven wickets for just 22 runs to be dismissed for 176 and sliding to defeat by an innings and 99 runs just after lunch on the fourth day of the second and final Cable and Wireless Test at Sabina Park yesterday.
In consigning the visitors to their 27th defeat in 30 matches since they were elevated to Test status three-and-a-half years ago, the West Indies took the brief series 1-0, allowing their captain to breathe easier after Brian Lara vowed to give up the job if his team failed to defeat their opponents here.
It was Lara who took the catch that ended the match in the fourth over after the interval as Mohammad Ashraful lifted an on-drive off Ramnaresh Sarwan and the skipper leaped high at short midwicket to seal a comprehensive victory.
The wicket completed a personal triumph for Sarwan who was named Man of the Match by virtue of his unbeaten 261 in the West Indies' only innings. He also earned the Man-of-the-Series award although Collins' performances in the two Tests certainly merited consideration. The left-arm seamer finished with six for 53, his best figures in a Test innings and third five-wicket haul, slicing through the Bangladeshi lower order after off-spinner Omari Banks finally broke the stubborn partnership of Habibul Bashar and Manjural Islam Rana half-an-hour before lunch on an overcast morning. Collins' devastating performance gave him final match figures of nine for 117 and took his tally in the two-match series to 14 wickets. In complete command of the match after three days, the West Indies might have been surprised at the swift demise of their opponents particularly as Bashar and Rana once again showed the courage and grit that distinguished the visitors' performances throughout their month-long sojourn in the Caribbean.
Resuming at 66 for three and needing 209 more runs to make the West Indies bat again, the captain and all-rounder extended their partnership to 120 runs and frustrated the home side for another 90 minutes with the help of a slice of luck as Rana was dropped by Omari Banks at gully off fast bowler Tino Best in the day's first over. However, Banks made amends in triggering the slide when summoned for a second spell as Rana, who hoisted him for a six over long-on, top-edged a cut to Lara at backward-point and departed for 35. That was the start of the slide as to the very next delivery - the first of a new over from Collins - Bashar was trapped LBW for 77 and four balls later, Mushfiqur Rahman edged an expansive drive to Dwayne Smith at fourth slip.
Three wickets had fallen with the score at 154 and wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud was the next to go one run later, mistiming an on-drive for Sarwan to take a straightforward catch at short midwicket off Banks. Five minutes before the interval, Collins bowled Mohammad Rafique and on the stroke of lunch, Tapash Baishya became his sixth wicket when he lifted a drive to Sarwan at mid-off. It seemed inevitable that Collins would have been given the opportunity to finish off the match immediately after lunch by claiming his seventh wicket of the innings. But ever one to confound obvious expectations, Lara tossed the ball to his vice-captain who duly obliged with the wicket of Ashraful.
The congratulations that followed were relatively muted as the West Indies players, not least their captain, would have recognised that they were made to work harder against the cellar-placed team in Test cricket than they might have expected.
Indeed, it was only a year ago that they completed a convincing victory over Sri Lanka on the same ground to win a similarly brief series, prompting Lara to state that better things were to come for the rest of the year.
What followed was an unconvincing triumph in Zimbabwe and successive 3-0 losses in South Africa and at home to England. It is doubtful that anyone at management level of the West Indies squad will indulge in similarly optimistic predictions ahead of the tri-nation limited-over series and four-Test duel in England which is less than a fortnight away.