West Indies 295 for 5 (Rutherford 113, Hope 86, Greaves 41*) beat Bangladesh 294 for 6 (Mehidy 74, Tanzid 60, Mahmadullah 50*, Shepherd 3-51) by five wickets
Rutherford, who was struck twice on his helmet during his innings, reached his century when Bangladesh conceded six runs via overthrows in the 47th over. He celebrated the milestone with consecutive sixes off Soumya Sarkar, over long-off and midwicket. Then he squeezed one to short third man where Nahid Rana completed a catch, but by then West Indies only needed seven more.
West Indies were in trouble for much of the first half of their chase. They lost both Brandon King and Evin Lewis in the first powerplay and couldn’t get going against Bangladesh’s fast-bowling trio. Tanzim Hasan Sakib trapped King lbw for 9 off 17 when he tried to pull one that wasn’t short enough, and Nahid Rana struck Lewis’ back pad in front of the stumps with a 148.9 kph delivery in the next over It was then up to Hope and Keacy Carty to consolidate.
They added 67 runs in the following 13.3 overs for the third wicket, with Carty scoring a cautious 21 off 37 balls. Rishad Hossain’s short ball had him caught at short midwicket in a disappointing dismissal for the in-form West Indies batter.
That hit opened the floodgates as Rutherford struck Mehidy for a four and a six in the 32nd over, before driving Taskin for a boundary in the 33rd. Hope hammered Rishad down the ground for sixes in consecutive overs, and Rutherford, bothered by the short ball until this point, pulled Rana for a six in between. He reached his fifty in the 36th over.
Mehidy then gave Bangladesh a lifeline when he had Hope caught at deep midwicket, but the 99-run fourth wicket stand had already given West Indies much-needed impetus. Greaves then hit three fours in as many overs, and ensured he kept the momentum going.
Rutherford then upped the ante when he pulled Tanzim for his third six, following it up with his fourth in the following over off Mehidy. Rutherford reached his highest ODI score in the 43rd over, with twin sixes off Taskin. When Greaves carved Tanzim through the covers in the following over, West Indies’ required rate came down to a run a ball, with just 37 needed.
Tanzid, however, fell against the run of play in the 24th over when Alzarri Joseph had him caught at point. He made a run-a-ball 60, walking off disappointed at missing out on a bigger score. Mehidy meanwhile continued to rotate the strike with the returning Afif Hossain. The fourth-wicket pair added 54 before Shepherd got Afif caught on the leg-side boundary.
Mehidy eventually made 74 off 101 balls, hitting six fours and a superb whipped six over fine-leg off Jayden Seales. He fell to the same bowler in the 38th over, skying to extra cover where Rutherford took the catch.
Jaker also struck three sixes, one of them off Joseph landing outside the stadium’s premises. He made 48 off 40 balls, falling off the penultimate ball of the innings to Shepherd, who finished with three wickets. Jaker and Mahmudullah struck all their six sixes in the last 6.3 overs of Bangladesh’s innings.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
