'Our focus is on next game'

West Indies' mystery spinner Sunil Narine finally came good as he accounted for four Bangladesh batsmen in the third ODI at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.Photo: STAR

It was a measured century by Marlon Samuels that proved to be the major difference between Bangladesh and the West Indies, in a match, that perhaps seesawed till the 45th over, before Samuels smacked pacer Rubel Hossain for 24 runs in one over and ensured a Caribbean delight.
"To be honest, I had just completed my century in the previous over and I was going to take on any one bowling at me from the other end. It was unfortunate for Rubel," said Samuels in the press conference after the third one-day international at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium last night. The visitors, before the 45th over, were visibly nervous and needed 34 runs off the last six overs. Three boundaries and two over-boundaries off Rubel, however, changed the entire scenario.
Curbing his natural instincts, Samuels played with a lot of patience and took the responsibility to guide West Indies home, following Kieron Powell's departure. While it wasn't chanceless innings -- he was edgy in the beginning of his innings and was dropped on 96 in the slip cordon -- he did, however, hold his composure long enough to take his side home.
"I went out to bat on a pitch that was not easy to bat on. It's a wicket that's very slow, so you had to wait on the ball. I went and batted at 3 because I knew that the pitch was turning and that I had the technique to bat out the early overs," said Samuels. "It helped others bat around me," he added.
While the West Indies did go on to win the game by four wickets, there was, however, a similar batting failure for the visitors. The likes of Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Smith and Kieron Pollard lost their wickets cheaply. The visitors in fact almost went through a similar collapse following the 111-run partnership between Powell and Samuels for the second wicket.
Samuels though believed that it was only a matter of time before the batsmen in the team joined the party. "We have a lot of quality batsmen who are finding their way in our team. This win was also a special team effort. There will be times when few will have to stand up if others don't do it on the day," said the West Indian.
Having guided his team to their first win in the five-match ODI series, Samuels stated that the visitors would focus on one game at a time. "We'll take it step by step. We are making a comeback, so we can't afford to think about anything apart from the next game. We just have to play basic cricket and take move in strides."