Darren Bravo cracked his maiden Test century to put the West Indies in command on the third day of the series-deciding second and final Test against Bangladesh on Monday. The left-hander was unbeaten on 100 after Kirk Edwards hit a solid 86 as the West Indies reached 207-3 in their second innings at stumps for an overall lead of 331 runs.
Bravo completed his century off the last ball of the day when he cut debutant left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo for two runs. He has so far hit two sixes and seven fours in his 165-ball knock. The tourists, leading by 124 runs on the first innings, consolidated their position as Bravo and Edwards put on 151 for the third wicket after openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Keiran Powell had fallen cheaply. The opening Test of the two-match series ended in a draw in Chittagong.
“I am very happy with my effort,” the 22-year-old Bravo said. “I just tried to play the right shots and waited for the loose balls to put them away. “There was not too much turn in the wicket. Maybe one or two balls did turn, but the ball came on well onto the bat. “I don’t see too much deterioration in the wicket. Tomorrow is another day, we will go out there to continue batting and put on a big target for Bangladesh to chase,” he said.
Bangladesh coach Stuart Law said his team faced a tough fight to save the game. “At the moment it is not going the way we wanted it to,” the former Australian international said. “A mediocre batting performance in the first innings ruined our plans. “We are not really controlling the game. We have them three wickets down, but they lead us by over 300 runs. It’s going to take a lot of hard work to come back into the match.
“We need to find a way to score runs, we need to find a way to stay a long time at the crease,” said Law. Edwards, who scored 121 in the first innings, looked set to score his second hundred of the Test when he fell in the closing overs of the day, bowled by Shuvo after hitting one six and seven fours in his 204-ball knock.
