CaribbeanCricket.com – The independent voice of West Indian cricket

Sun 19 Oct ’25

West Indies captain Shai Hope gave a rather scathing assessment of his team’s performance after a 74-run defeat to Bangladesh in the first ODI on Saturday. “It’s just one of those days where their spinners, I would say, outwitted our spinners, and their batters did the same to our batters,” he said.

The Caribbean side first dismissed Bangladesh for 207 in 49.4 overs, led by Jayden Seales (3/48), with support from Roston Chase (2/30), Justin Greaves (2/32) and Khary Pierre (1/19). Despite the low total, Hope noted that Bangladesh looked halfway satisfied. “They weren’t trying to chase the game; [it seems] they always felt like they just needed something on the board,” he said. “And if the locals are playing a certain way on the surface, then there must be something different on the surface.”

However, the Barbadian insists his team went into the chase with confidence. “We have always believed as a hitting group that we can get the job done,” Hope said. Openers Brandon King (44) and Alick Athanaze (27) kept the Bengals at bay for 71 deliveries and put on 51 for the first wicket. Before wrist spinner Rishad Hossain tore through the Windies batters with career-best figures of 6/35.

Hope (15) and Greaves (12) were the only other Windies batters to reach double figures as the visitors lost the remaining 9 wickets for 82 runs, which were bundled out for 133 in 39 overs. Hope says the visibly ‘black’ Mirpur wicket was “clearly a spinner-friendly surface.” But he admitted that the “[batters] We didn’t adapt as well as we wanted to in that situation.”

On Friday, a defiant Daren Sammy had stated that the series was a challenge that his team is ‘well prepared for’. The Windies coach also said the prospect of playing on spinning wickets would not intimidate his side. “What I can tell you is we don’t let the field play in our minds,” he said.

Hope appears to be up to the task ahead of Tuesday’s second meeting. “We just have to learn the lessons from this game and find ways to not let them settle down as hitters.”