Mominul, Jaker help Bangladesh avoid follow on

Bangladesh 269 for 9 (Jaker 53, Mominul 50, Joseph 3-69) trail West Indies 450 for 9 dec (Greaves 115*, Louis 97, Athanaze 90, Mahmud 3-87) by 181 runs

West Indies maintained their control of the Antigua Test despite Bangladesh ending the day on 269 for 9 at stumps on the third day. The home side hold a lead of 181 runs after Alzarri Joseph, Jayden Seales and allrounder Justin Greaves nearly did enough to enforce a follow-on on Bangladesh. A late resistance helped the visitors avoid it, but they remain well on the backfoot after three days of play.

Bangladesh looked to bat steadily on a slow surface, but despite starts, couldn’t find one batter to go big like West Indies achieved in their first innings. Jaker Ali and Mominul Haque got out soon after reaching their fifties, while Litton Das fell for 40. Jaker and Taijul Islam added 68 runs for the seventh wicket to get Bangladesh closer to the follow-on mark of 251, which they crossed in the day’s last hour.

The visitors started the third morning quietly, with Mominul getting a pair of boundaries off Shamar Joseph. Shortly afterwards, Kemar Roach removed Shahadat Hossain for 18, for which he played 71 balls. It was an innings going nowhere before he edged to first slip where Kavem Hodge took a low catch.

Mominul and Litton saw to the end of the first session, continuing to bat obdurately. The usually free-flowing Litton started off with an easy square-cut boundary off Alzarri, but then mostly played within himself. Only in the over before the lunch break, Litton freed his arms to get another cut four, this time off Shamar.

West Indies however got the breakthrough shortly after the lunch break when Seales trapped Mominul lbw after the left-hander reached his 21st fifty.

Stand-in captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz then endured a test of bouncers from the West Indies attack, with Alzarri even hitting him on his shoulder. Seales chipped in with his share of bouncers and verbals.

Litton also got bogged down, resulting in getting bowled by a slightly short delivery from Shamar that he dragged onto his stumps. Litton made 40 off 76 balls with three fours, but it was a disappointing exit for one of three experienced Bangladesh batters.

Mehidy struck a couple of boundaries off Greaves and Shamar later in the second session, but the short ball kept bothering him. After surviving 66 balls, Mehidy finally popped an Alzarri bouncer to short-leg where Mikyle Louis took a comfortable catch.

Then came the unlikely revival act by Taijul and Jaker. The pair did take advantage of a tiring West Indies attack while also being disciplined with their choice of shots. They had to scavenge for scoring opportunities but were always looking for the odd boundary. They survived a dropped chance apiece too.

Taijul kept using the pace of the West Indians, guiding the ball behind square on the off-side, while Jaker tried to force the issue. Jaker got his four boundaries with the pull shot and the hoick, one of which helped him bring up his fifty. Joseph separated the pair after they had batted along for 19 overs when he bowled Taijul. Jaker fell to a Seales catch in the deep midwicket boundary, as he tried to clip Greaves for a big one.

There was a bit of by-play between Joseph and Taskin Ahmed towards the end, particularly after the fast bowler hit the Bangladeshi tail-ender on the head. The two exchanged words, but Joseph couldn’t knock off the tenth Bangladesh wicket against the fading light.

West Indies came into the third day on the back of a fine batting performance on the first two days. They continue to have control of proceedings at North Sound going into the penultimate day and will want rain to stay away in pursuit of a result.

Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84