Brathwaite's unbeaten 123 charges Windies to 264-3 at end of day 1 in first Test against Bangladesh

West Indies opener Kraigg Brathwaite hit an unbeaten 123 to help his team put up 264-3 at the close of the opening day of their first Test against Bangladesh in Kingstown on Friday.

Brathwaite shared a commanding 116-run opening partnership with Chris Gayle as the home side made a strong start at Arnos Vale to the two-Test series. Gayle, who has become one of Twenty20 cricket's leading global players, switched into long-form mode with a patient 64 from 105 balls.

The West Indies opening pair looked comfortable against Bangladesh seamers Al-Amin Hossain and Rubel Hossain, reaching 103 without loss by lunch but the tourists' spinners slowed them in the afternoon session, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Off-spinner Shuvagata Hom trapped Gayle lbw as the attempted to sweep his delivery. Hom made use of the referral system to claim Gayle's wicket after umpire Marais Erasmus turned down his appeal.

Slow left-armer Taijul Islam quickly produced another breakthrough for Bangladesh by removing Kirk Edwards on his individual score of 10 as he found some bounce and the West Indian's leading edge was grasped by Mominul Haque at silly point

Darren Bravo, who had been in good form with a century and fifty in the recent ODI series, helped stabilise the innings with 62 from 126 balls until he drove Islam into the hands of Mahmudullah at mid-off.

Former West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul joined the Braithwaite before rain ended play early. Brathwaite ended six runs short of his highest test score, the 129 he made against New Zealand in Trinidad in June, the report added.