West Indies look to prolong Bangladesh's woeful run

West Indies and Bangladesh commence a three-match One-Day International series at the Queen's Park Stadium here tomorrow with the home side heavily favoured to extend the tourists' miserable record in 2014.
Despite several encouraging performances in a 95-run win in their lone warm-up fixture against a Grenada XI on Sunday, Bangladesh will be hard-pressed to challenge a Caribbean side brimming with big-name international players, all of whom will be match fit given their participation in the just-concluded second season of the Caribbean Premier League T20 franchise tournament.
This campaign, Bangladesh's third tour of the region outside of involvement in the 2007 World Cup and 2010 World T20, is their first trip away from home this year and captain Mushfiqur Rahim will be hoping a return to the scene of the side's greatest triumphs can somehow inspire a transformation from the atrocious form displayed over the past eight months.

Facing a home team stripped of all its top players in the midst of a bitter dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players Association in 2009, Bangladesh swept the Test series 2-0 and the ODI's 3-0 with all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan outstanding as both player and captain.
Now though, the West Indies are at full strength with the likes of devastating opener Chris Gayle and power-hitting middle-order player Kieron Pollard keen to help their team develop a winning momentum in the countdown to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in six months' time.

Mystery spinner Sunil Narine appears to carry the greatest threat to Bangladesh in the limited-over formats but they may also find the pace of Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul, together with the awkward bounce extracted by gangling fast-medium bowler Jason Holder to be more than a handful, even on batting-friendly surfaces.
Compounding the tourists' challenge is the absence of Shakib, who is serving a six-month suspension from all cricket imposed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board last month over a disciplinary matter.