Greaves hits maiden ton as Windies grind Bangladesh

Justin Greaves scored a patient maiden century in only his third Test before West Indies declared at 9-450 Saturday on the second day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Antigua.

Greaves, who finished 115 not out, had a previous highest score in Tests of 33 and only one century in 43 first-class matches before compiling a composed hundred from 181 balls, batting at No.6.

He completed the first century of West Indies' innings after Mikyle Louis was out for 97 and Alick Athanaze for 90 on the first day.

Bangladesh were 2-40 at stumps, trailing by 410 runs when bad light stopped play. Shahadat Hossain was 10 not out and Mominul Haque on 7.

The tourists lost Mahmadul Hasan Joy (5) and Zakir Hasan (15) in 20 overs before the close.

West Indies resumed on Saturday at 5-250. They were 7-261, the match closely balanced, when Greaves was joined by Kemar Roach, batting at nine.

The pair put on 140 for the eighth wicket to fully turn the match in West Indies' favour. Roach made a painstaking 47 from 144 balls, following the example of Greaves whose innings of 206 deliveries included 128 dot balls.

"Me and Justin are from the same country and he understands my batting ability so he just backed me in the situation and obviously it paid off," Roach said. "We're good mates, we have very good conversations at the cricket and outside cricket so that's what helped us in the middle."

The 30-year-old Greaves, playing his first Test for 10 months, hit only four fours, including the boundary that brought up his century. Otherwise, he took 52 runs from singles, 38 from twos and nine from threes in an excellent example of running between wickets.

His batting form had been hinted at by the fact he scored four centuries in domestic one-day matches in West Indies.

"It was a fantastic effort," Roach said. "He's one who wants to learn ... I've had big hopes for him from the time he started."

When Roach came to the crease, Greaves was only 18 after resuming Saturday at 11 not out.

The pair came together in the 87th over after Alzarri Joseph (4) was brilliantly caught in the gully by Zakir Hasan from the bowling of Hasan Mahmud.

Greaves reached his half century from 88 balls and by lunch the West Indies had recovered to 7-336, scoring at a steady three runs per over. Brief rain breaks failed to disturb the batters' concentration.

Roach finally was out in the 134th over when the total was 8-401 Mahmud delivered a ball outside off stump which beat Roach's shot as it curled back to hit middle.