Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo said that his team is getting ‘punished’ by West Indies for their poor batting.
The Tigers are in a less than favourable position after Day 2 of the Saint Lucia Test with West Indies sitting pretty on 340-5, leading Bangladesh by 106 runs.
Kyle Mayers, who had struck a remarkable double hundred on debut to help West Indies chase down 398 in the second innings against Bangladesh in the Chattogram Test last year, has once again emerged as Bangladesh’s biggest obstacle by bringing up his second Test ton against the same opponents.
Mayers is unbeaten on 126 off 180 deliveries with Joshua Da Silva unbeaten on 26 off 106 balls at the other end as the hosts are on their way to earn a massive first innings lead.
After the day’s play, Domingo once again rued his team’s underwhelming showing in their first innings.
Bangladesh got bundled out for just 234 on a pitch where runs were on offer. Domingo feels his batsmen haven’t been good enough so far in the series and need to learn from the West Indian batsmen on how to score runs in this condition.
“There are some serious questions with bat and ball at the moment. It was not a 230 all out wicket. If it weren’t for a 30-run partnership in the end, we would be 190 all out. We are just not good enough at putting performances together with the bat," Domingo told the reporters on Saturday.
“West Indies are showing us why they are better than us. They have managed to build partnerships and withstand the pressure. They just bat long - that's the bottom line,” he added.
Domingo in particular praised the approach of Mayers, who rescued his team from 132-4 and made sure they took a first innings lead.
“There are a lot of players searching for form, searching for runs. The only way to get through it is to bat for long periods of time. Lot of 30s and 40s, the odd 50. Nobody is doing what Kyle Mayers is doing. His big 126 is the difference between getting 230 and 400, Domingo said.
“They chased down 400 (394) against us in Chattogram. He got a 200 (210 not out). But we are not getting those big scores. It is a big lesson for the boys. Test match is hard. When you are not batting as well, teams will punish you,” the South African added.
Domingo also wasn’t completely pleased with his bowlers, who failed to sustain pressure for long periods.
“It is the story of our Test match cricket at the moment. We are good for one session and then we have one really bad session. The guys were not patient. They couldn’t string together enough tight overs like we did in the first session. They were searching for wickets, bowled a few soft balls, came around the wicket when it should be over the wicket. They just made basic errors by not being patient enough. It was very disappointing the way we bowled after lunch.”