Da Silva gutted to miss century

The West Indies continue to show marked improvement with the bat throughout the current Test series, as the visitors have put themselves in a good position against Bangladesh in the second Test.

For the second straight innings, the West Indies batted more than 100 overs, as the visitors put up an above-average score of 409/10 on the Dhaka track.

That total was aided by half-centuries from Nkrumah Bonner, Joshua Da Silva, and Alzarri Joseph, who made 90, 92, and 82, respectively.

Da Silva said on Friday that he was “gutted” at missing out on triple figures.

Resuming on 22, the right-hander batted superbly to strike 10 fours off 187 balls in nearly four and a half hours at the crease but perished with a hundred in sight, bowled between bat and pad by left-arm spinner Taijul Islam.

“I got a half-century but it’s not good enough," Da Silva said. "I was eight runs short and I was gutted.”

“I probably shed a tear or two walking off just because I wanted to get there so badly, but hopefully there are more opportunities and I will get it the next time.

“I can’t even describe how it feels and what it means to be eight runs short. I wish I could have back that ball. It’s the second time I’ve gotten out that way, so hopefully next time I wouldn’t let [that ball] out me.”

Da Silva anchored two critical stands which propelled West Indies from their overnight 223 or five to 409 all out in their first innings, about 15 minutes before tea.

Firstly, he extended his overnight sixth-wicket stand with Nkrumah Bonner (90) to 88 before adding a further 118 for the seventh wicket with tail-ender Alzarri Joseph who made a stroke-filled 82.

Bonner’s 209-ball knock included seven fours, and it was also his highest Test score, following up on his 84 from the first Test.

Da Silva was quick to praise Joseph’s innings which marked his second Test half-century following his 86 against New Zealand last December.

“I have full confidence in Alzarri and had more confidence when he’s batting against pace but he showed he can do it against spin as well,” he said.

Playing in only his third Test following his debut in New Zealand, Da Silva has looked at ease against the battery of Bangladesh spinners throughout the series.

In the opening Test last week in Chattogram, he managed scores of 40 and 20, on both occasions battling through difficult situations to help put West Indies in strong positions.

“I’ve always been a good player of spin so I just adapted my game,” Da Silva said.

“[These are] lower wickets so that’s the majority of what I had to adapt to. [They are] similar to home but not as similar. It was different circumstances and situations, so I just did my part.

“[I just] pick the line and length as early as possible. I’ve been doing a lot of work with Monty [Desai] our batting coach, just working on moving forward and back positively and making that decision early.”

For Joseph, a Test century is still on the cards. However, he admits that more work needs to be done to achieve the feat.

“It’s disappointing not to get the hundred, but I have been working hard on my batting, so there will be other opportunities for me to get to that score.”

Joseph said he was pleased with how Da Silva encouraged him to play situational cricket.

“Josh’s encouragement was good in building our partnership," he said. "He said we should go at small totals by going for 10 runs at a time and start over. In a matter of no time, we put on an 80-run partnership."

sports@gleanerjm.com