Jason Mohammed: ‘We have to give ourselves a little bit more time’ in the middle overs

Captain, however, was pleased with debutant offspinner Akeal Hosein, who claimed 3 for 26

West Indies captain Jason Mohammed said that their batsmen need to be more patient in the middle overs. The visitors were bowled out for only 122, which Bangladesh chased down with 16 overs to spare as they won the first ODI in Mirpur by six wickets.

West Indies had slumped to 56 for 5 in the 19th over with Shakib Al Hasan, playing his first international game after serving his one-year ban and finishing with 4 for 8 in the match, posing the biggest threat. Mohammed, who was stumped off Shakib, said West Indies need to come up with a better plan, mainly by being patient against the old ball.

“We have to give ourselves a little bit more time,” he said. “It is difficult to score in the middle overs with the spinners, so negotiating that part of the innings is going to be crucial for us. Obviously, we need to play that period of bowling a little better. I think we are going to discuss things and see what the best plan is to come up with.”

A 59-run stand between Rovman Powell and Kyle Mayers gave West Indies hope, but once it broke they collapsed again, losing their last five wickets for just seven runs and in the space of 20 balls. Pacers Mustafizur Rahman and Hasan Mahmud, who was making his debut, were among the wickets, while offspinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz bowled tidily as well.

“We have to try to put little bit more runs on the board,” Mohammed added. “We are inexperienced in terms of batting, but I think they [the batsmen] are capable of doing the job. It was our first outing. Wicket was a little bit difficult. Hopefully [in the] next game, we can put up a better batting performance.”

Mohammed felt that his bowlers did well, particularly Akeal Hosein – who was among six debutants in the match for West Indies and who finished with returns of 3 for 26 from his quota of ten overs.

“I think the bowlers put up a good performance. Akeal was a standout on his debut,” he said. “He took three crucial wickets for us. He was economical too. I am very happy with the bowlers today.”

Hosein, who was instrumental in the Trinbago Knight Riders’ fourth CPL title last year with ten wickets in seven matches, was pleased with his performance, although he would have preferred to have a bigger total to bowl at.

“I was happy with my performance. But having said that, not being able to take my team to victory will always be in the back of your mind,” he said. “It was a good experience. We went out there, gave it our all. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the result. So hopefully we can bounce back strongly in the next game. I think we definitely need to put on a bigger score. We bowled well, so it is just to give the bowlers something to work with. Hopefully that happens in the next match.”