Jayden Seales, Brandon King secure series win for West Indies

West Indie cruised to a comfortable 7-wicket victory, following Jayden Seales's career-best 4 for 22, to wrap up their first bilateral ODI series win over Bangladesh in 10 years. Seales struck thrice in his opening spell to reduce the visitors to 64/4 inside 11 overs 54/3 inside the powerplay, from where Bangladesh could only muster 227. Brandon King anchored the chase as the hosts overhauled the modest target with 13.1 overs to spare.

Their decision to bowl first in St. Kitts was vindicated when Seales had Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das and Bangladesh skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz walking back to the pavilion cheaply inside the powerplay despite the Tanzid Hasan counterattack at the other end. The opener batted beautifully and struck four boundaries and a couple of sixes in his 33-ball stay for 46 before Justin Greaves sent him back, leaving the visitors at 64/4.

A brief recovery ensued as Mahmudullah dropped anchor and, together with Afif Hossain, put on a 36-run stand. However, Gudakesh Motie joined the party and sent back Afif and Jaker Ali in succeeding overs to leave the visitors reeling at 104/6 in 21 overs. Rishad Hossain's eight-ball duck only made matters worse.

Mahmudullah then found company in Tanzim Hasan Sakib and together the pair stitched a defiant 92-run stand for the eighth wicket to lend some respectability to the Bangladesh total. The senior batter took charge initially while Sakib took nine deliveries to open his account. Mahmudullah didn't hold back when the ball was in his hitting arc, and even slammed a couple of sixes to make the best of the bad balls on either side of a Romario Shepherd maiden over. Sakib put Bangladesh past the 150 mark with a six off Motie, who finished an excellent spell with 2 for 36, and grew in confidence with every shot thereon.

Mahmudullah reached his fifty in 84 balls - his fourth at the venue in six innings - and soon after took his team past 200 with a six and a four off Greaves in the 43rd over. However, Roston Chase took an excellent return catch in his followthrough to deny Sakib a fifty by just five runs. Mahmudullah was dismissed soon after as SEales returned to the attack and struck immediately. It was Shoriful Islam's 4,4,6 in an eight-ball cameo of 15 that gave Bangladesh a respectable 227 before they were eventually bowled out in the 46th over.

Chaisng a below-par 228, West indies were served well by an opening stand of 109 between King and Evin Lewis. King was the aggressor initially as Lewis struggled to find his rhythm, but the duo ensured the home team had a solid base to build the chase on. Batting on 6 off 23 at one point, Lewis took on Sakib with a 4,6,4 in the ninth over to shift gears as well as bring up the fifty for his team. At the end of the first powerplay, West indies were comfortably placed at 54 without loss.

Lewis clubbed Mehidy down the ground for a couple of sixes and even got a life in between, but Rishad Hossain had him caught and bowled just one short of a fifty to put an end to the late fireworks from him. King, who had raised a 52-ball fifty in the meantime, continued to anchor as he joined hands with Keacy Carty for a 66-run partnership where the latter did the scoring mostly. Carty struck seven boundaries in his 47-ball stay and became the second West Indies batter to be denied a half-century as he fell five short - Nahid Rana, who had earlier dismissed King taking a fine diving catch.

However, the hosts were only 31 away from winning the series at the point and Sherfane Rutehrford's lusty blows - two sixes and a four in a 15-ball 24 - sealed the deal with seven wickets and more than 13 overs to spare.

Brief scores: Bangladesh 227 in 45.5 overs (Mahmudullah 62; Jayden Seales 4-22, Gudakesh Motie 2-36) lost to West Indies 230/3 in 36.5 overs (Brandon King 82, Evin Lewis 49, Keacy Carty 45) by 7 wickets