Windies determined to make amends

Bangladesh go into tomorrow's second Test against West Indies in a confident mood, believing they are closer to their first Test win than they have ever been. Three of their batsmen scored hundreds in the first game in St Lucia, allowing Habibul Bashar, the captain, to declare for the first time in Bangladesh's short Test history. Their bowlers then took all ten first-innings wickets against a West Indies batting line-up that is not star-studded, but imposing all the same. Plus, all of this was achieved largely without Dav Whatmore, their inspirational coach, who flew home to attend the funeral of his brother-in-law, and will not return for tomorrow's match.

Bangladesh's celebrations after the first Test would have been more fitting for a team that had just won, rather than drawn. When asked about the possible strategy for the second Test at Kingston, Bashar replied, "Jamaica is far away man. I'm not thinking about Jamaica tonight."

But while Bangladesh can prepare in high spirits, the pressure will be on West Indies to perform at their best to avoid a humiliating drawn series against what was supposed to be a weaker opposition. They can, however, take some positives into the next game. Tino Best, who prompted Bangladesh's second-innings collapse, bowled with hostile pace on a pitch offering little help to the fast bowlers. The track at Sabina Park is likely to be a different story, but Bashar was confident that his team were prepared. "We heard this wicket is fast and bouncy, but we are ready for it, definitely, and we are hoping to play better than in St Lucia. If it's hard and bouncy for us then it is hard and bouncy for them too."

West Indies have called up Omari Banks, the offspinning allrounder from Anguilla, for the Test. The lack of a specialist spinner in the previous match frustrated Brian Lara, and he believed it contributed to his team's inability to bowl Bangladesh out twice. In desperation Lara turned to Ramnaresh Sarwan, a part-time legspinner, who finished with match figures of 7 for 96 from 47 overs on a pitch that yielded readily to spin. "It was evident at quite an early stage that leaving out the spinner was not in our best interest," he said, adding that while there was a tendency to hark back to the days of the all-conquering fast-bowling era, he felt that "instead of relying on our dream team, we should focus on the current situation". The result of the first Test will have helped that.

West Indies (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Devon Smith, 3 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 4 Brian Lara (capt), 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Dwayne Smith, 7 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 8 Omari Banks, 9 Tino Best, 10 Pedro Collins, 11 Fidel Edwards.

Bangladesh (probable) 1 Hannan Sarkar, 2 Javed Omar, 3 Habibul Bashar (capt), 4 Rajin Saleh, 5 Mohammad Ashraful, 6 Faisal Hossain, 7 Mushfiqur Rahman, 8 Khaled Mashud (wk), 9 Mohammad Rafique, 10 Tapash Baisya, 11 Tareq Aziz.