Bangladesh looks to keep winning at newest venue

Bangladesh hopes to christen international cricket's newest venue with victories in the first three one-dayers against West Indies on Sunday at Windsor Park. The Tigers would have probably had low expectations prior to their arrival in the Caribbean, but fortune favoured them when the leading West Indies players chose to boycott the series. Their replacements were no match for the Bangladeshis, who convincingly swept the two-Test series to gain the boost of confidence that their appointed captain and leading fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza set as one of their objectives. Sadly, Mortaza played only a minor role in the Test series triumph, following a fall which aggravated a previous right knee injury, and has sidelined him for the three ODIs and the Twenty20 International to follow. Shakib Al Hasan will lead the side as he did during the Tests, and will hope to build on his performances which led to him winning the man-of-the-series award. Bangladesh has added left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, all-rounder Naeem Islam, and medium-fast bowler Syed Rasel for the series. West Indies too, have recruited some troops to fortify their side, but the big names like Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor and Denesh Ramdin remain absent although the players' boycott has ended. West Indies have recalled left-hander Devon Smith and fellow Grenadian Andre Fletcher, and included uncapped left-hander Kieran Powell to shore up their batting. Leg-spinner Rawl Lewis has also been recalled and uncapped fast-medium bowler Gavin Tonge has received his first call-up. The rest of the side, which is again being led by left-handed batsman Floyd Reifer, comprises mostly the players that played in the Tests, as well as fast bowler Nelon Pascal, who was part of the Test squad, but did not play in either of the two matches.