Miraz reflects on match slipping away after Greaves-Roach stand

West Indies drew first blood, winning the first Test in Antigua today by 201 runs and Bangladesh stand-in captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz felt that the game slipped away from them during the West Indies first innings when the hosts recovered from seven down for 261 to post 450.

Kemar Roach, a tail-ender, played 144 deliveries – the highest number of deliveries he has ever faced in an innings in his career, making the Bangladesh attack wilt on day two. The partnership of 140 between centurion Justin Greaves and Roach was also the highest eighth-wicket stand by any side against Bangladesh in Tests.

After spending more than a day on the field, the batters were able to put up some resistance in the first innings as Bangladesh scored 269 for 9 in the first innings. Taskin Ahmed then put on a special display with the ball, notching the best-ever figures by a Bangladesh fast bowler in the Caribbean with six for 64 to bowl Windies out for 152 in the second innings.

Miraz said they bowled well in the match but the game went away from them after the Greaves-Roach partnership.

“We bowled really well and Taskin got six wickets. I think they had good partnerships, especially when they were down seven wickets, they got a 140-run partnership. I think the game went away from us there,” he said.

The batting was once again the problem area, succumbing to Windies pace. Bangladesh could only survive 38 overs, all out for 132 in the second innings in chase of 334.

“There are some positive sides but we didn’t bat well in this match. We made some mistakes,” Miraz said.

“We hope to come back strongly and it’s a good opportunity. We know the mistakes we made in this match. We need to improve a lot. We are going to chat and we had conversations within the team,” Miraz reflected on the task ahead before the second Test in Jamaica on November 30.