A record opening partnership in Tests against Bangladesh and untidy cricket by the tourists contributed to the West Indies reaching 246 for three at stumps on the first day of the second and final Test at the Beausejour Stadium on Saturday.
Debutant Leon Johnson (66), playing in place of the unavailable veteran opening batsman Chris Gayle, and Kraigg Brathwaite (63) put on 143 for the first wicket after Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and chose to field first.
Their stand eclipsed the previous record established by Gayle and fellow-Jamaican Wavell Hinds in Dhaka in 2002.
Yet as well as the makeshift opening pair performed, Bangladesh's opening bowlers aided the opponents with an indisciplined effort through the morning session, ironically when the pitch was at its most helpful to the seamers.
Despite a much-improved performance in the second session, when Johnson and Brathwaite were removed within the space of a couple of runs, the visitors' efforts to make further inroads into the batting line-up were thwarted by their own errors in the field.
Kirk Edwards was put down at backward-point off Shafiul Islam at the start of his innings and although he eventually departed in the final session, the missed opportunity presented by Shivnarine Chanderpaul could prove far more costly.
Dropped at second slip off Al-Amin Hossain when only on four, the 40-year-old left-hander will resume on the second morning on 34 alongside Darren Bravo (44).
They have so far put on 61 for the fourth wicket, but at a snail's pace, occupying 144 deliveries despite conditions that seemed ideal for batting and notwithstanding their well-established reputations as the two most accomplished batsmen in the West Indies line-up.
