What Mikyle Louis and Alick Athanaze failed to accomplish was obtained by Justin Greaves as he brought up a gritty maiden international ton in the second session of the day. Resuming the day on a score of 250 for the loss of five wickets, it was all about how much the West Indies would end up with in their first innings. The very first over of the day saw wicketkeeper-batter, Joshua Da Silva, trapped in front to award Hasan Mahmud his first wicket of the game.
The very next over saw Mahmud dismiss Alzarri Joseph with a peach of a delivery. Kemar Roach played a perfect foil for Greaves as they stuck around in the middle while ticking the scoreboard over. Greaves whipped one to fine leg to run a double to complete an 88-ball fifty. By Lunch, the two had already struck a 75-run stand. The Windies batters relied mainly on the rotation of strikes during their time together. It was unfortunate for Roach to get dismissed for 47, making him only third player in the history of Test cricket to have scored 1,000 Test runs without notching up a single half-century.
However, Greaves did not miss out on the occasion, with the very next over’s first delivery being the one where he brought up his hundred to drive it wide of mid-off. As soon as Shamar Joseph brought up the 450 for his side, skipper Kraigg Brathwaite thought it was enough and declared the innings. Coming out after a short break, Bangladesh scored their first boundary in the eighth over, but only after an incredibly metronomic display of fast bowling by the West Indian pacers.
Jayden Seales got the better of Zakir Hasan after the latter scored a couple of boundaries in the same over. Not long after, Joseph got in on the act as he got rid of the other opener. Mominul Haque and Shahadat Hossain navigated their side to safety by surviving the next few overs, before play was cut shot after a third reading of the light was taken by the on-field umpires. Bangladesh have a lot of catching up to do, with them trailing the West Indies by 410 runs ahead of the third day.
Here’s how X reacted to Day 2 of the first Test between WI and BAN:
Well deserved
Patience , perseverance and quality 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 https://t.co/Euy4P8zFO4
— Carlos Brathwaite (@CRBrathwaite26) November 23, 2024
While the rest of the cricketing world rejoices over the Aus-India series, a few brave souls will be watching the “Down Bad WTC Bottom of Table” series between West Indies and Bangladesh
For the love of the game
West Indies are back! pic.twitter.com/hGt6AjYnyV
— Santokie (@Santokie89) November 22, 2024
MAIDEN TEST 💯 FOR JUSTIN GREAVES 👏
A special knock to witness up close today. It took him a decade since making his First-Class debut to play test cricket, but he never once lost hope. A lesson to us all 🙌@windiescricket pic.twitter.com/oIPIgOU9N5
— Nikhil Uttamchandani (@NikUttam) November 24, 2024
Its an extraordinary effort. WI, known for innumerable batting collapses, comes up with an awesome exhibition of lower order resilience n partnership.
Fm 261/7 to 401/7 thanks to an extraordinary 140 run 8th wkt partnership between Kemar Roach n Justin Greaves. #WIvsBAN
(1/2)
— Ambika (@apmahapatra) November 23, 2024
Maiden century for Justin Greaves (115*)! 💯👏 A brilliant knock that puts West Indies in a commanding position in the 1st Test against Bangladesh. 🌴🏏#WIvBAN #BCB #WTC25 #Bangladesh #WIHomeforChristmas pic.twitter.com/WRBDlvM3I1
— lightningspeed (@lightningspeedk) November 24, 2024