CRICKET WEST INDIES

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Ravi Rampaul got his birthday wish. The strong right-arm fast bowler got two wickets for 27 runs from 10 overs on Saturday, a perfect gift to celebrate his 27th birthday. To put the icing on the cake, the West Indies beat Bangladesh by 8 wickets to win the second One-Day International. It gave them an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

 

“It was a great feeling to get a Series win on my birthday...feels great to do so well with the ball and help us to win the series. Everybody is happy with the way we are playing and the fact that we are executing our plans and we are getting success as individuals and as a team,” Rampaul said.

 

“I knew it was my special day so I wanted to celebrate with a special performance for the team. I knew it wouldn’t just happen like that, so I decided I had to go and bowl my heart out. I planned where I would bowl and how I would attack them. The aim was to get it back-of-a-length, and use the short ball as a surprise. As a team, we knew they would come hard at us at the top (start) of the innings so as a bowling group we were ready and prepared for that.

 

“When they won the toss and batted first I said ‘yes’, I knew right there and then that I would get the chance to run in hard with the new ball. I started well with an early wicket and I made sure I kept things tight as well.”

 

Rampaul started the attack with Kemar Roach and they got early wickets to reduce Bangladesh to 18 runs for four wickets. The Tigers fought back well to post 220. Throughout the innings Rampaul maintained excellent control and made life difficult for the homeside.

 

“We got off to a great start. I got one early and then Roach grabbed two so we had them pushed back. The job was then to maintain the pressure and build blocks of dot balls. To their credit they never gave up. They kept fighting and tried to stay in the game. What we did, that was very good, was that we stayed calm and played to our team plan. We kept the pressure on them and tried to squeeze them,” Rampaul said.

 

“As a team we are very happy to come away from home and win. In the two matches we got two comprehensive wins and with one match to go we will look to take that as well and get a clean sweep in the series. After that we will switch focus to the two Test matches, as we look to win those as well.”

 

The West Indies arrived in Chittagong on Sunday for the third ODI which will be played on Tuesday at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. First ball is 1.30 pm (3.30 am Eastern Caribbean Time/2.30 am Jamaica Time).

 

October 18: 3rd ODI at Chittagong

October 21-25: 1st Test at Chittagong

October 29-November 3: 2nd Test at Dhaka

 

Venues:

Dhaka – She-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka

Chittagong – Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong