West Indies’ Shepherd grabs career-best before rain halts 1st T20I

Windsor Park (Dominica), July 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) Persistent showers forced a premature end to the first T20 International between West Indies and Bangladesh at a refurbished Windsor Park on Sunday (IST).

A wet outfield delayed the start for over an hour and a half and reduced the match to 16-overs-per-side. After play was halted in the eighth over, the match was reduced to 14 overs each.

Bangladesh faced 13 overs when rain interrupted play again with the score on 105/8.

Shakib Al Hasan top-scored with 29, and every West Indies bowler got a wicket, led by fast bowler Romario Shepherd with 3/21. It was career-best figures for the 27-year-old who bowled with good control as Bangladesh slumped from 56/2 to 77/7 in the 11th over. His first wicket was that of Litton Das who was outsmarted by a slower ball and spooned a simple catch to captain Nicholas Pooran at midwicket.

In Shepherd's third and final over, he took two more wickets -- Mahmudullah superbly caught by Hayden Walsh Jr at backward point and then Mahedi Hasan, taken behind by keeper Devon Thomas.

Walsh also played a crucial role with the ball as he took 2/24 to cause the middle-order slide. He first had Shakib taken by Thomas as he tried to go after a well-flight wrong-un, and then sent back Afif Hossain for a duck as the left-hander hoisted a catch into the safe hands of Brandon King.

The game was the first cricket international at Windsor Park since it was rebuilt after being severely damaged in 2017 by Hurricane Maria.

The second match of the series will be played later on Sunday at the same venue.

Brief scores: Bangladesh 105/8 in 13 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 29; Romario Shepherd 3/21) vs West Indies. (No result).

Source: IANS