DHAKA, Bangladesh – Darren Sammy said West Indies have gained a further boost of confidence following their 77-run victory over Bangladesh in the first Test on Saturday here.
The Windies captain said his side had a lot of respect for Bangladesh prior to the series and the performance of the home team in the match had reinforced their belief.
He said the victory was an example of the fighting qualities his side was developing and there was a good feeling in the dressing room after the match.
“We have said from the beginning, we had a lot of respect for Bangladesh and we were not going to take them lightly – and we didn’t,” he told reporters.
“Had we taken them for granted, the result of the first innings total would have caused panic in the dressing room.”
He added: “But to see that we battled our way throughout the Test and came out victorious will definitely be a boost to the confidence that we already had coming out of the ICC World Twenty20 Tournament.
“It will also help improve the attitudes of players whenever we take the field and face a difficult task.”
Before a weekend crowd of more than 15,000, lion-hearted Windies fast bowler Tino Best lived up to his surname, taking a career-best 5-24 from 12.3 overs of sustained pace and hostility, shattering Bangladesh’s dreams of a rare Test victory, as they were bowled out for 167 on the final day, chasing 245 for victory.
Sammy heaped praise on Best and the rest of the bowlers for their effort over the five days on what was described as “a docile Sher-e-Bangla Stadium pitch”, but whose character changed over the last two days.
“It was a difficult pitch for the bowlers – over 1,000 runs were scored in the first two innings,” he said.
“The effort from Tino, running in hard and putting the ball consistently in the right areas, and getting his first five-wicket haul in Tests was special.”
Sammy said: “We knew we needed to get 10 wickets to win the match, but we saw how the pitch behaved the previous evening and in the morning session – there was something in it for the spinners and our fast bowlers are much quicker.
“We backed our bowlers to put the ball in the right areas, and once we were patient, we could get wickets.”
Sammy said Bangladesh played really well, but they had failed to put things together in two innings. He however, expected another hard-fought Test next week.
“Credit must go to them for the way they came out and played this match,” he said. “They batted really well and had a game plan and executed it well.
“But we always had a belief that we could get a victory, and no matter how hard they fought, we felt we could come out on top.
“I know they will take a lot of positives from this game, but so will we. It leaves the series wide open and we have seen they are not a side that will roll over, so we expect a bigger fight and hopefully we can again be victorious.”
Squad
Darren Sammy (Captain)
Denesh Ramdin (Vice Captain)
Tino Best
Darren Bravo
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Narsingh Deonarine
Fidel Edwards
Kirk Edwards
Assad Fudadin
Chris Gayle
Sunil Narine
Veerasammy Permaul
Kieran Powell
Ravi Rampaul
Marlon Samuels
Team Management Unit
Ottis Gibson (Head Coach)
Richie Richardson (Team Manager)
Toby Radford (Assistant Coach)
C.J. Clark (Physiotherapist)
Hector Martinez (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
Richard Berridge (Performance Analyst)
Virgil Browne (Massage Therapist)
Adriel “Woody” Richard (Media Manager)
TOUR SCHEDULE
? (Local start times in brackets – Eastern Caribbean minus 10 hours, Jamaica minus 11 hours)
November
Thu, 8 to Sat, 10: Tour match – Cancelled – BKSP Ground, Savar
Tue, 13 to Sat, 17: First Test – West Indies won by 77 runs – Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, Mirpur
Wed, 21 to Sun, 25: Second Test – Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium, Khulna (9:30 a.m. daily)
Wed 28: Tour Match vs BCB XI – Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium (9 a.m.)
Fri, 30: First One-day International – Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium (9 a.m.)
December
Sun, 2: Second One-day Interntional – Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium (9 a.m.)
Wed, 5: Third One-day International – Sher-e-Bangla Stadium (2:30 p.m.)
Fri, 7: Fourth One-day International – Sher-e-Bangla Stadium (2:30 p.m.)
Sat, 8: Fifth One-day International – Sher-e-Bangla Stadium (2:30 p.m.)
Mon, 10: Only Twenty20 International – Sher-e-Bangla Stadium (6 p.m.)
