Dhaka, Bangladesh – Marlon Samuels completely dominated the Bangladesh bowlers to pilot West Indies to a superb eight-wicket win on Saturday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. The silky-smooth right-hander played some breathtaking shots in a match-winning unbeaten half-century as the visitors cruised to 221-2 off 42.4 overs to chase down the home side’s 220 off 48.5 overs.
The result gave the Windies an unassailable 2-0 lead with one match to go in the three-match series. They won the opening match by 40 runs on Thursday.
Samuels made 88 not out off just 74 balls to follow-up 58 in the T20 International on Tuesday and 71 in the first ODI on Thursday. He added 111 for the second wicket with opener Lendl Simmons, who made 80 to follow up his maiden century on Thursday. After Simmons departed Samuels took charge and hit 12 boundaries and a massive six over mid-wicket which disappeared into the Grandstand.
“The hard-work is paying off. I have been putting in a lot of work and I’m seeing the benefits. One of the main areas of my batting since my return to international cricket is that I’m a lot smarter and more patient at the crease. Before, when I was younger, I used to come out and go for my shots from the word ‘go’, but now I acknowledge that I have to spend time at the crease before I look to push on. That is my new approach and it is working well for me,” said the 30-year-old.
Samuels praised the efforts of Simmons, who added another half-century to scores of 51, 51, 76, 77 not out, 53, 67 and 122 in ODIs this year. He shared an opening partnership of 71 with hard-hitting Danza Hyatt, who cracked four sixes in 39.
“It was a good pitch and we paced the situation perfectly. Simmons and myself, we are in very good form at the moment, and we were able to carry the team to the winning total. It was a fairly small total to chase and we batted sensibly to win the match. In the end the margin would suggest it was an easy win, but no match at international level is ever easy,” said Samuels, who won the Man-of-the-Match award.
“We came here to Bangladesh the mindset that we would play some hard cricket. They can be a difficult team. We would never come here and take them for granted. We want to be more consistent as a team and make play smarter cricket as a group.”
The West Indies bowlers did the early damage. Ravi Rampaul picked up 2-27 on his 27th birthday, his new ball partner Kemar Roach had 3-49 and skipper Darren Sammy took 2-42 on his return from illness. At one stage, the Bangladeshis were rocked on 18 runs for four wickets and were in danger of falling below the 58 they made against West Indies at the same venue during the ICC Cricket World Cup six months ago.
“We wanted to press on the gas and get them for a lower total. We didn’t know how the wicket would play at the end of the day … we chased the score down very smartly. At one stage there was talk of ‘58’ but you can’t bowl out a team for 58 every day. What was good to see was that we play a good game of cricket and went about our work sensibly,” Samuels said.
The West Indies will travel to Chittagong on Sunday for the third and final One-Day International.
Upcoming matches
October 18: 3rd ODI at Chittagong
October 21-25: 1st Test at Chittagong
October 29-November 3: 2nd Test at Dhaka
Venues:
Dhaka – She-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka
Chittagong – Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong
good job needs to continue to work hard
Well done Windies!! Now continue to develop the habit of winning.
Hoping that the West Indies can keep the woning torch burning for some time. CONGRATS to the team.