Mahmudullah leaves Windies in a spin again

Mahmudullah grabbed two wickets for Bangladesh in his very first over to change things dramatically and leave West Indies wobbling on 107 for three in their first innings at lunch in the second and final Test on Friday.

The off-spinner, playing his second Test, again exposed West Indies' frailty against the slow stuff, when he removed opener Dale Richards for 69 and left-hander Ryan Hinds for two - both caught and bowled - in the space of three balls in the last 10 minutes before the interval.

At lunch, Travis Dowlin was not out on 12 and West Indies captain Floyd Reifer was yet to score, after Bangladesh won the toss and chose to field on the opening day of the Test at the Queen's Park Stadium Complex.

Bangladesh were put on their heels early, after play started a half-hour later than scheduled because of damp spots on the pitch from rain water seeping through the covers.

The Tigers' new-ball pair of Shahadat Hossain and Rubel Hossain had been dominated by the West Indies opening pair of Richards, in particular, and left-hander Omar Phillips in a first wicket stand of 60.

But from the time Shakib Al Hasan, leading the side in the absence of the injured Mashrafe Mortaza, introduced spin, things began to unravel for West Indies.

Shakib, bowling his left-arm spin, made the breakthrough, when Phillips was caught at deep mid-wicket for 23, two balls after Shahadat had muffed a skier at long-on off the same bowler.

In between the Bangladesh spinners tying up the heads of the West Indies batsmen, Richards played some enterprising strokes, and reached his 50 from 64 balls, when he late cut Shakib for the 10th of his 11 fours.

In the same over, Shakib suffered punishment at the hands of Richards when he struck him for two more fours and then languidly lofted him straight for the first of his two sixes.

But Mahmudullah came into the attack just before the interval. Richards greeted him by swinging his second ball through mid-wicket for his second six before the batsman was deceived in flight and gave an easy return catch.

Two balls later, Mahmudullah held a second return catch, when Hinds, the only change to the home team for the match, failed to keep down a straight drive, and the spinner held a low return catch diving to his right. Bangladesh have made one change to their side with left-arm spinner Enamul Haque Jr replacing Mortaza.

Appointed Bangladesh captain for this trip, Mortaza fell clumsily on his right knee when bowling during the first Test in St. Vincent, and spent the last 2-1/2 days of the match off the field.

He underwent a medical scan on Tuesday, and though the results of the test are not as bad as initially feared, the visitors have decided not to take any risks with him.

Bangladesh lead the two-Test series 1-0, after they won the opening Test which ended last Monday in St. Vincent by 95 runs.

The Tigers need only to draw the match to fulfill a long-held dream of their first-ever Test series victory overseas.