Reifer lauds fielding effort

West Indies managed to salvage a consolation win, their first of the tour, beating Bangladesh by five wickets in the only Twenty20 international in St Kitts. The hosts had been beaten soundly in the Test and the ODI series and Floyd Reifer, the West Indies captain, said that success in today's game should help the inexperienced team to get into winning ways. "I told the guys to look forward to the future and see the bigger picture," he said at the end of the game. "We've got to keep improving and play hard when playing for West Indies. It's just one win that we needed to start our winning ways."

West Indies managed to restrict Bangladesh to 118, causing four run-outs, and Reifer credited their excellent fielding display as a major factor in the victory. "In the team meetings we had discussed that we needed to be sharp in the field because Twenty20 is a fast-paced game," he said.

Bangladesh inflicted an early blow in West Indies' chase, getting rid of Dale Richards first ball, but Travis Dowlin - who scored a century in the second ODI - and Devon Smith both scored 37 to steady proceedings and help their team win comfortably in the end. "Travis had a really good season, and so did Roach [Kemar], David Bernard and Sammy [Darren]," Reifer said. "So we have a lot of positives to take away from this series going into the future."

Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh captain, admitted that the failure of the top order - Bangladesh lost four wickets in the first six overs - was to blame for the loss. "The top-order batsmen, including me, didn't play smart cricket," he said. "We didn't execute our game-plan well."

But the defeat was a minor blemish on a hugely successful tour for Bangladesh, who won their first Test series overseas and sealed a 3-0 whitewash in the ODIs. "We've played very good cricket for the last one month, and one game doesn't make it bad," Shakib said. "We'll be heading for Zimbabwe soon, it's a very important series for us and we're looking for a win."