Dhaka, Bangladesh — Fidel Edwards got fired up on Sunday and produced a superb spell of pace bowling to cut through the Bangladesh batting as West Indies took control on the second day of the second Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
The 29-year-old, bowled with genuine pace topping 90 mph, and used the short ball wisely in an opening five-wicket burst in six overs. He ended the day with 5-58 – his 11th five-wicket haul in his 48th Test match. This is his third five-for since his return to international cricket in June. He took 5-76 against India Barbados and 5-103 in the next match in Dominica. Overall he now has 148 Test wickets.
Bangladesh were at one stage 59-5 but recovered to close the day on 204-7 in reply to 355. The Windies total was built around a superb 121 from Kirk Edwards, the right-hander’s second century in just his fifth Test innings. The two Edwards are not related, but live just five miles apart from each other in the parish of St Peter in Barbados.
"The plan was to be aggressive…to bowl with pace and try to come hard at the Bangladesh batsmen. If you have the pace you can make it uncomfortable for the batsmen," Fidel said. "The pitch here is good for batting but it also has something for the faster bowlers as well. We saw that when we batted, so we knew once we got things right we could strike some early wickets with the new ball. You have to bowl to your plan. We stuck to our plans and got the results. The plan was to be aggressive and take wickets and contain them. The containing part didn’t work out but the wicket taking part did."
Fidel had the two left-handers Tamim Iqbal and Shahriar Nafees both well caught by Darren Bravo at short leg. He also had Raqibul Hasan plumb leg-before, then forced skipper Mushfiqur Rahim to fend off his first ball, which was well caught by Shiv Chanderpaul at first slip. The prized fifth wicket was Imrul Kayes, taken low down by Kraigg Brathwaite at square leg.
"It always feels good to get five wickets in a Test match innings. With the total we put up on the board it gave me the encouragement to run in and be really aggressive. We knew the Bangladesh batsmen would come out and play their shots and it worked well for me. It was a pretty good day for me and the team, but the job is far from done. We have to look to get those last three wickets and bowl them out and take full control of the match. If we can keep them down to around two runs per over and bowl them out early (on third day) that would be great for us," Fidel added.
"This is just my second match in Bangladesh and before coming here I did not know the pitches that well. Having played the first Test I realised I had to adjust my areas and it worked well in this match. In the first match I didn’t get it quite right but here today I made the adjustment and came away with five wickets. I’m not thinking about figures or numbers, I’m just thinking about bowling them out twice and winning the Test match and the series."