KHULNA, Bangladesh: Marlon Samuels hit a fighting century to help the West Indies reach 241-2 at the close on the second day of the second and final Test against Bangladesh yesterday.
The 31-year-old Jamaican scored 109 not out and added 198 runs for the unfinished third wicket stand with Darren Bravo (85 not out) to help the tourists recover from the early loss of the openers at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium.
The tourists, who lead the series 1-0 after winning the first Test in Dhaka by 77 runs, are now 146 behind Bangladesh’s first innings total of 387. Samuels, a star in West Indies’s World Twenty20 triumph in Sri Lanka last month, drove spinner Shakib Al Hasan towards cover for his 11th boundary to complete his fifth Test hundred -- and his third this year.
By the end of play he had hit 13 boundaries and a six during his 231-ball resistance-filled knock.
Bravo, who hit seven boundaries during his sedate 197-ball knock, helped Samuels set a new record for third wicket against Bangladesh, beating the 179-run stand between Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan at Kingston in 2004.AFP
