West Indies assistant coach Roddy Estwick has warned his side the time for excuses is over after defeat to Bangladesh left their World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.

The Caribbean team started their campaign in England and Wales in impressive style, beating Pakistan by seven wickets but have since lost to Australia, England and Bangladesh.

With games to come against fancied New Zealand and Virat Kohli's powerful India, the West Indies' chances of progressing to the semi-finals from the 10-team round-robin phase look bleak.

West Indies scored 321-8 in Taunton on Monday only to be undermined by an under-par bowling display as Bangladesh cruised home with seven wickets to spare.

Former Barbados player Estwick stressed the importance of the two-time world champions sticking together in the face of adversity. "We can stand here, saying 'if this' and 'if that' -- we didn't play well, we've lost the cricket game and that's that," he said.

"We've got to come back stronger. We've still got four games left in the tournament and we can't point fingers or apportion blame to anyone.

"We have to stick together, that's how good teams pull through. We've got to stop looking for excuses and start finding solutions."

Estwick paid tribute to Bangladesh, who kept their own World Cup hopes alive by taming the West Indies pace attack, while also promising his own side would come back with renewed vigour.

"Four years ago, everyone was saying how exciting and refreshing West Indies cricket looked," he said.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing. If we'd bowled spin against Bangladesh, everyone would have said that we should have stuck to our strengths.

"Four games down the road, it's the worst tactic in the world. Give Bangladesh credit. They played well and they're an improving side.

"They've played us now five times in the recent past and have beaten us every time. We just have to go away and put our heads together and find a solution. We're not down and out yet. We're going to fight and come back harder."

Feature image courtesy: AFP Photo/ Saeed Khan

West Indies took control of their World Cup clash with Bangladesh as Shai Hope's 96 and the joint-fastest fifty of the tournament from Shimron Hetmyer inspired an imposing 321-8 at Taunton on Monday.

It seemed Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza might be rewarded for his decision to bowl first when the West Indies were contained to a sedate 94-1 from the first 22 overs.

But the Windies couldn't be held in check in the second half of the innings as Hope laid the foundations for his country's fourth highest World Cup score with a resolute 121-ball innings.

Hitting around Hope, Evin Lewis made 70 from 67 balls before Hetmyer smashed 50 in 26 balls, featuring four fours and three sixes

It was the equal fastest 50 in this year's tournament and the third quickest by a West Indies batsman in World Cup history.

Bangladesh will need the second highest successful run chase in World Cup history to take maximum points.

"The pitch flattened out a bit more at the end and I was pretty pleased with 321," Hope said.

"We've got a bit more pace and height so hopefully we can extract a bit more."

West Indies opener Chris Gayle was expected to wreak havoc in the tournament, but the big-hitting 39-year-old has only managed scores of 50, 21 and 36.

Once again Gayle looked out of sorts and he went 12 balls without scoring before dangling his bat limply at Mohammad Saifuddin's seaming delivery on the 13th, with the edge held low down by wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim.

Lewis kept grinding away and reached his first World Cup fifty from 58 balls.

That was the signal for the opener to step on the gas and he smashed a six and two fours in quick succession

But Lewis paid the price for his sudden aggression when he was caught off Shakib Al Hasan going for one more blast with the score on 122.

- Urgency -

Lewis's partnership of 116 with Hope was the West Indies' first century stand of the World Cup.

A towering six from Nicholas Pooran off Mehidy Hasan Miraz left a hole in the roof of one of the Taunton stands.

But Pooran, on 25 from 30 balls, perished when he tried to slog-sweep Shakib and miscued to Soumya Sarkar at long-on.

Urgency finally injected into the innings, Hetmyer followed Pooran's gung-ho example with a sublime display of hitting.

Blasting boundaries to all parts of the ground, Hetmyer passed 1,000 ODI runs in his 27th innings.

His flamboyant display was curtailed when he holed out off Mustafizur Rahman.

Skipper Jason Holder's 33 from 15 balls -- including four fours and two sixes -- filled in admirably for Hetmyer to ensure the Windies went past 300.

Bangladesh have had the upper hand against the West Indies in recent meetings, winning six of the last seven, including all three games in the Tri-nation series in Ireland last month.

Both the West Indies and Bangladesh have won one of their four group matches, with two defeats and one no result apiece.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Saeed Khan

Bangladesh powered to the second-highest run chase in World Cup history as Shakib Al Hasan's brilliant century clinched a remarkable seven-wicket win over the West Indies on Monday.

Shakib blasted 124 from 99 balls and Liton Das hit a superb 94 from 69 deliveries to lead Bangladesh to 322-3 with 8.3 overs to spare at Taunton.

Bangladesh's highest one-day international run chase put them behind only Ireland's 329-7 against England in 2011 in the history of successful World Cup chases.

Mashrafe Mortaza's side remain in with a chance of reaching the semi-finals after their second win in five matches.

It was a brutal day for the West Indies, who were shambolic in the field and bowled far too loosely.

A third defeat from their five games means a semi-final berth is extremely unlikely as the optimism from the thrashing of Pakistan in their opener fades away.

The highest chase in the current World Cup prior to the masterclass from Mashrafe's men was New Zealand's 248 against Bangladesh.

But the Tigers had already posted 330 in the first innings of their win over South Africa earlier in the competition and they were never intimidated by their task against the Windies.

Opener Tamim Iqbal set the tone in the chase with six fours in his 53-ball innings of 48 before being superbly run out by Sheldon Cottrell.

Tamim and Soumya Sarkar had taken the score to 50 in the ninth over.

Soumya was dismissed for 29 when he scooped Andre Russell to Chris Gayle in the slips.

But there were huge cheers from the Bangladesh fans around the ground when Shakib became just the second player to score 6,000 career ODI runs for the Tigers.

After reaching his fifth successive ODI 50, Shakib -- who scored 121 against England earlier in the tournament -- took command with a scintillating innings that climaxed when he stroked a boundary to reach his century.

Shakib is now the highest run scorer at this year's World Cup so far and the West Indies were helpless as he and Das demolished their wayward bowling to romp home.

- Epic success -

Adding to the epic nature of the success, the unbroken stand of 189 between Shakib and Das was the second-highest for the fourth wicket in World Cup history.

Shakib finished with 16 fours, while Das bludgeoned eight fours and four sixes.

Earlier, Shai Hope's 96 and the joint-fastest fifty of the tournament from Shimron Hetmyer helped the West Indies reach 321-8.

The Windies couldn't be contained in the second half of the innings as Hope laid the foundations for his country's fourth-highest World Cup score with resolute 121-ball innings.

Hitting around Hope, Evin Lewis made 70 from 67 balls before Hetmyer smashed 50 in 26 balls, featuring four fours and three sixes.

It was the equal fastest 50 in this year's tournament and the third quickest by a West Indies batsman in World Cup history.

Lewis's partnership of 116 with Hope was the West Indies' first-century stand of the World Cup.

A towering six from Nicholas Pooran off Mehidy Hasan Miraz left a hole in the roof of one of the Taunton stands.

And skipper Jason Holder's 33 from 15 balls -- including four fours and two sixes -- ensured the Windies went past 300.

But Shakib and Das showed that total was nowhere near enough with their sublime display.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Saeed Khan

Just seven balls left for West Indies�?batting innings to end. Bangladesh’s Mustafizur Rahman delivers the ball. Oshane Thomas misses. The keeper collects the ball. But, out of nowhere, the bails fall off.

Many a bizarre thing has happened in cricket but hit wicket dismissals have always psyched everyone’s interest over the years. A similar incident took place in the World Cup group stage match between West Indies and Bangladesh on Monday in Taunton.

After the initial bewilderment, when the players and the on-field umpires grasped what had happened, the latter decided to go upstairs to seek a third-umpire review. The replays, nonetheless, stole the show! It revealed Thomas lowering the bat after missing the ball and in the process knocking over the bails and standing as perplexed as the rest of the Bangladeshi players on the field.

However, the aspect that began debates across the cricketing fraternity was why the West Indian was not given an out? Third umpire Paul Wilson ruled out that possibility on the ground that the particular incident happened after he had completed the shot, and hence, was not out as per the laws of the game.

Lord’s Cricket ground also came out in support of the same, throwing further light on the scene.

The decision was correctly given as not out by the TV umpire because Oshane Thomas was no longer receiving the delivery. The ball had gone, his shot was completed and he was not attempting a run.

Find out more about the Laws of Cricket here ➡️ //t.co/0LyqeVOMKm#CWC19 //t.co/DtXyX31iWx

�?Lord's Cricket Ground (@HomeOfCricket) June 17, 2019

Though Windies went on to put a solid score of 321/8 on the board for Bangladesh to chase, this amusing incident in the dying minutes of the innings did keep Twitter reeling. Here are some of the best reactions to the entire episode:

Oshane Thomas has cost the Windies at least 20 odd runs because of brainless bat swinging! #WIvBAN #CWC19

�?No clean sheets FC (@sull_noronha) June 17, 2019

Oshane Thomas just did a Mark Waugh.//t.co/XFEl7TmuHH#CWC19 #WIvBAN

�?Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) June 17, 2019

BIZARRE! Oshane Thomas has smashed his own wickets. The umpire deems rightly, it's ruled NOT OUT as he had completed his shot. One of the most bizarre moments of CWC 2019.

#BANvWI pic.twitter.com/F8MwK1N9ke

�?ZEE. (@iBleedGreenZEE) June 17, 2019

#WIvBAN Oshane Thomas hits wicket ,but not out? !.This umpiring decision should be given world cup.!

�?S.Balaji (@balajibands) June 17, 2019

Oshane Thomas is first WI bowler who bats like tailender #BANvWI

�?Mustafa (@Mustafa_JKh) June 17, 2019

Oshane Thomas survives in the weirdest of ways!

He finishes the swing of his bat and hits the bails, but he's through with the shot and the third umpire adjudges him to be not out. #WIvBAN | #CWC19

�?Cricket Afridi (@CktAfridi37) June 17, 2019

#OshaneThomas completes his shot. Knocks his stumps in follow through. Adjudged not-out. Takes a single of the last ball of penultimate over. @BCBtigers happy! #CWC19

�?rosh! (@roshinoz) June 17, 2019

Oshane Thomas is hilarious. Not often you get someone so incompetent with the bat these days... #CWC19 #bbccricket

�?Adam�?(@adinho85) June 17, 2019

Oshane Thomas has just won the World Cup. Hand the boy the trophy.

�?Nick Friend (@NickFriend1) June 17, 2019

Want to watch what actually happened? Click here.

Featured photo courtesy: ICC Cricket World Cup

West Indies captain Jason Holder has said that his team fell some 40-50 runs short during their seven-wicket loss to Bangladesh at Taunton on Monday.

Posting an impressive 322 on board on the back of Evin Lewis, Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer’s respective half-centuries, the West Indies bowling attack was well and truly expected to put the game to bed. As it seemed though, the Bangla Tigers were braced for the short pitch approach the Calypso Kings had in store.

Despite going 133/3, the likes of Shakib Al Hasan and Linton Das steadied the ship and went on to play the highest fourth-wicket partnership for Bangladesh in the World Cup. Speaking about his team’s total, Holder said,

“Think its a bit of both (batting and bowling). We were around 40-50 runs short, the wicket played well the entire day just that we didn't get enough runs,�?Holder said during the post-match presentation.

Both Shakib and Das hammered the likes of Shannon Gabriel, Oshane Thomas and Chris Gayle to absolute perfection. The bowling trio ended their tenure with an economy of 9.18, 8.67 and 11.00 respectively.

“We could have been a lot more disciplined with the ball and we let ourselves down in the field as well. Would have been a little challenging in the first ten overs after losing the toss and being asked to bat. Having said that, we got through the first 10 overs reasonably well,�?Holder added.

“We were in a situation where we just didn't get the momentum as we probably should in the middle-overs with the bat and we had too much to do in the back-end. As I said before if you score 320 here, you gotta fight really hard in the field to defend it.�?/p>

“We didn't get wickets, and also we let one or two chances slip. We tried to hit the top of the stumps but didn't do it consistently. There is no excuse, we should have been a lot more disciplined. We have got other games to play and from here on everything is virtually a final for us and we have to be more clinical.�?/p>

After five games, West Indies sit seventh on the log with a solitary win and three defeats in their kitty. They next face New Zealand at Old Trafford on June 22 in what can be termed as a must-win fixture.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Saeed Khan

Bangladesh’s wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim has handed his team a major scar as he left the nets midway through the batting session after taking a hit on his right arm just below the elbow off Mustafizur Rahman’s delivery in Taunton on Saturday.  

Following the hit, Rahim, who has played 208 ODIs for Bangladesh, was seen removing his gloves before leaving the nets with team physio Thian Chandramohan right away. Reports are that he missed the rest of the session following the discomfort

''The injury does not look serious, but he will be under observation for 12 hours and later we will decide the next course of action,'' said a BCB spokesperson.

''We can tell about its gravity only after the icing is completed because it will help us to assess his condition only after the icing is completed,'' he added.

If Rahim is to miss Bangladesh’s next fixture �?against West Indies �?it will turn out to be a big blow given the fact that how positively the 32-year-old has contributed with the bat. He struck an impressive 78 in his team’s tournament opener against South Africa. This was followed by a 50-ball 44 in a losing cause against England.

Bangladesh’s other worries lie in the form of Shakib Al Hasan, who is nursing a thigh injury he picked during his ton against England. It is, however, isn’t something that the team are cautiously worried about. He is expected to be fit for the West Indies game. Even their captain, Mashrafe Mortaza has looked a bit jarred in terms of fitness. He has cut his run-up short and hasn’t been able to be at his best for most of the part as well.

Meanwhile, opener Tamim Iqbal was at the receiving end of the similar fate earlier in the tournament when he got hit by a delivery in the nets at Oval ahead of their opening game against South Africa.

Feature image courtesy: AFP / Ian Kington

It’s not the situation that Bangladesh would like to be in. But their skipper has urged his team to trust their experience in assessing the pitch and approach the game accordingly going ahead into the 2019 ICC World Cup.

“The team that correctly assesses the pitch faster, they will be ahead in the game. I think we misread the pitch in the New Zealand game (at The Oval). If we had read the pitch right during that match, we would have targeted 260-270, and not 300-plus,�?Mashrafe said speaking at the pre-math press conference on Sunday. “There's confusion about the (Taunton) pitch as well. We heard it will be grassy but some are saying that it is usually a flat pitch. I think those who go out in the middle can assess it quicker, since they end up getting criticised for the defeat.�?/p>

The talk arose after it was learnt that the Bangladesh side were influenced by the outside the think-tank in their loss to New Zealand. Against the Kiwis, the Bangladeshi batsmen were seen throwing their wickets which eventually resulted in a low 244, a total that was eventually chased down by the Kiwis.

“The behaviour of a pitch changes as the match progresses. When you are playing in a ground like The Oval, you are likely to have in the back of your mind that there will be 330-350 runs," Mashrafe said. "I think our calculations were spot on against South Africa. But if Shakib (Al Hasan) didn't get out at that time against New Zealand, we would have gone along the same path against New Zealand.

“When (Mohammad) Mithun and (Mahmudullah) Riyad were batting, we had the right thinking, aimed at a score around 270. It is hard to judge the pitch listening to the radio. They can only speculate, and only comment on things as it progresses in front of them. I think those in the middle should make the decisions based on their judgment.�?/p>

Feature image courtesy: AFP Photo/ Saeed Khan

Having started their campaign at the 2019 ICC World Cup in fine manner, the West Indies and Bangladesh were in for some hard reality check as the competition progressed. While the Windies began with a fantastic win over Pakistan, only to lose track against England and Australia, the Bangla Tigers were dealt heavy blows by New Zealand and England after a shock victory over South Africa in their opener. So, when the two face off in Taunton on Monday, a win will be of paramount importance.

The West Indies were like a breath of fresh air in the competition. Banking on their young bowling brigade, the team from the Caribbean surprised the Pakistani batsmen with persistent chin music. Though the Aussies too were on the receiving end of this treatment, a counter punch from an unknown Nathan Courter-Nile had the Windies starching their heads.

Moreover, with their batsmen failing to complement their bowlers, the team led by Jason Holder were made to pay against better opposition. Against Bangladesh, they would be hoping that every department of their team responds to the call. Adding to the woes are injuries to their key players, as Andre Russell and Sheldon Cottrell could bowl only five overs between them before leaving the field on Friday.

Meanwhile, for Bangladesh, their performance so far has revolved around a certain Shakib Al Hasan. The number one all-rounder in the world has been on top of his game, scoring 260 runs and claiming three wickets so far. But unfortunately, he’s been the only performer for them. Their bowling succumbed to the pressure against England, while against the Kiwis, it was their sloppiness in fielding that cost their dear.

On Monday, while the Windies will be hoping to make the most the conditions, Mashrafe Mortaza and his men will be hoping to repeat their heroics from the Tri-nation tournament just ahead of the World Cup when they got the better of the Windies twice. Overall, it promises to be a cracker for a game.

Feature images courtesy: AFP Photo/ Saeed Khan