West Indies believe their positive batting intent can help them overcome Bangladesh on the fourth day of the Dhaka Test. The hosts hold a 106-run lead but have only four wickets remaining after the visitors reduced them to 79 for 6 late on the third day.
West Indies were earlier bowled out for 245, but their spinners fought back on a wicket that has offered little assistance beyond the occasional ball keeping low. West Indies batting coach Floyd Reifer credited the bowlers for shifting the momentum back in their team’s favour, adding that he was confident Bangladesh wouldn’t be able to get to 150 in their second innings.
“I mean, I don’t think they’ll get to 150,” Reifer said. “But my thing is, whatever score that they give us tomorrow, we’re going to approach it in a positive manner. We’re going to show intent and look for every scoring opportunity and put pressure on them from early.
“We are in a very good position. We always knew that the game would come down to a good first innings total. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get past their total, but it was a great effort from the guys to come back in the second innings and have them 79 for 6. We bowled some disciplined areas, stuck to the team plans, and everyone was very consistent in their lengths and lines.”
Nayeem Hasan and Jaker Ali, the concussion sub for the injured Mominul Haque, added an unbroken 26-run stand for the seventh wicket, but Bangladesh have little hope after them.
“At 79 for 6, when we start tomorrow, we’ll try to go through the last few batters as quickly as possible,” Reifer added. “If we’re going to chase 125 runs, I think that’s very possible for us to chase 125 on a pitch like that. But obviously, you have to get early wickets, so the first hour tomorrow is going to be critical in terms of breaking that partnership. Once we break that partnership, then we can finish off the job.”
Reifer, who oversaw West Indies’ two-week red-ball team camp in Chennai to prepare for the Bangladesh tour, said the camp played an important role in their progress against spin. John Campbell and Tagenarine Chanderpaul scored fifties, Justin Greaves made 46, while down the order, Joshua Bishop also showed attacking intent.
“In the batting unit, everybody has their own style of play,” he said. “Some guys are aggressive, some guys like to bat a lot of balls. We had very good preparation. We spent two weeks in Chennai, we batted a lot of spin there, guys batted for long periods of time.
“(Playing spin) is an area that we’ve really improved on. The guys are very confident in terms of how they approach the spin, in terms of being strong in defence, being confident in their defence, rotation of strike, and scoring options.”
Reifer also does not want his batters to think too much about the nature of the surface. “The objective of the game is to score runs. So just because the pitch is probably turning and keeping a little low, we’re going to take the pitch out of the equation where we just focus on how we want to play.
“We’re not going to focus on what the pitch is doing; we’re going to focus on how we want to play and how we want to bat in these conditions.
“There’s only one way to approach it. We’ll try to enforce our batting with intent, keep looking for scoring opportunities. Obviously, the pitch is playing a bit low, some balls are spinning. When you go back on the back foot, it’s about going back low, trying to score in front of the wicket. But the main thing for us is just maintaining that positive intent, which means intent in defence, intent in rotation, intent in scoring options and boundary options,” he said.
He also praised Roston Chase, the West Indies captain, who rescued the side with both bat and ball. Chase was unbeaten on 43, having put on an important partnership with Greaves and later took three wickets in his first ten balls when Bangladesh came out to bat on the third day.
“In our cricket team, Roston (Chase) is like the glue. He’s the go-to guy when things are tight with the bat. He comes in and puts in a performance, and he puts in a performance with the ball as well. He’s the guy that keeps the team together in both batting and bowling. He catches well at slip. He’s the captain, so I think he’s a very good cricketer. He’s underrated, but in any setup, he’s like the guy that keeps it all together,” Reifer said.
CRICINFO
