Nafees ton delays the inevitable for Bangladesh A

Despite a fine counter-attacking ton from Shahriar Nafees, West Indies A were in sight of victory on the penultimate day of the four-day match, thanks to their domination of Bangladesh A in the first innings. The hosts' bowling attack came back strongly for the second time in the game, but too much ground had been squandered by their batsmen in the first innings.

Beginning the day with a lead of 322, Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo came out looking for quick runs, but the hosts checked the pace of their progress. Edwards managed to add 17 to his overnight 55 before offering a return catch to Nazmul Hossain. Bravo followed soon after, robbing the visitors' innings of momentum. Brendan Nash dropped anchor to score an unbeaten 27, while Chadwick Walton pushed the score along. Eventually, Travis Dowlin called his batsmen in with a lead of 429, leaving the hosts over 150 overs to survive or go for the money.

Gavin Tonge ensured that Bangladesh A's batsmen quickly settled for the first option when he sent back Nazimuddin and Marshall Ayub in his first spell. Raqibul Hasan played cautiously, but Nafees disregarded the direness of the situation and went after the bowling. He smote boundaries all around the park, 21 in all in addition to a six, as wickets tumbled at the other end. Raqibul's departure was followed by two more wickets as the score hobbled past 100, with Odean Brown proving difficult for the home batsmen to handle.

Saghir Hossain, coming in at seven, defied the bowling in a stroke-filled innings of 47. He added 126 with Nafees and the hosts seemed set to carry the fight into the last day for an improbable win. However, things went downhill for them in the dying moments of the day, as both batsmen fell in the space of two runs. Nazmul and Suhrawadi Shuvo saw them through to stumps, but will struggle to keep the visitors at bay for long on the final day.