With a swashbuckling 117 off 62 balls by captain Brian Lara, the visiting West Indies beat Bangladesh by 109 runs at the floodlit Bangabandhu National Stadium Saturday to clinch the Biman Millenium Cup.

This was the second consecutive defeat for the hosts to lose the two-match day-night one-day series by 0-2. Bangladesh experienced their first defeat to the Calypsos by 73 runs on Friday. Earlier, they drew the rain-interrupted three-dayer on October 4-6.

Chasing the massive West Indies total of 314 runs, Bangladesh was dismissed for 205 in 49.1 overs.

In the day's second ODI match, minnows Bangladesh in fact met the defeat in the very early overs when Caribbean captain Brian Lara winning the toss opted to bat first and he along with the other opener Sherwin Campbell started to slaughter the Bangladesh bowlers.

The West Indies batting was so aggressive, especially against the medium pacers, that captain Aminul Islam Bulbul didn't have the courage to ask new ball bowlers Manjurul Islam and Shafiuddin Ahmed to continue.

Both Manjur and Shafiuddin, in their 3-over first spells, conceded 30 and 32 runs respectively. Manjur, called again only for the last over, gave away 8 more runs. Khaled Mahmud Sujon gave away 78 runs from 8 overs while Bulbul 50 and Enamul Haq Moni 45 from their 10-over quotas.

Habibul Bashar Sumon, who took the important wicket of Brian Lara, was the most successful Bangladesh bowler who cost 31 runs in 10 overs.

World record holder Brian Lara hammered a superb ton off only 45 balls to become the second fastest centurion in ODI cricket.

None was expecting Bangladeshi batsmen to overhaul the massive 314. But again they showed poor performance throwing away wickets at regular intervals, mainly to give credit to occasional bowler Sherwin Campbell, and finally managed only 205.

Part-time bowler Campbell captured four wickets conceding 30 runs in 10 overs. Among the other West Indian bowlers, Brian Lara and Nehemiah Perry took two wickets each while Nixon McLean and Mervyn Dillon one each.

Wicket keeper Ridley Jacobs contributed in five dismissals - two stumping and three catches.

Bangladesh's highest scorer was skipper Aminul Islam Bulbul who made 66 off 89 balls. Bulbul, suffering from form problem since he became the captain and performed very poorly in the World Cup, faced 71 deliveries to reach 50 with three fours.

Opener Shahriar Hossain Bidyut scored 47 runs from 70 balls to miss yet another half-century after making 45 in the first match on Friday.

The best partnership for Bangladesh came in the opening stand with Bidyut and Javed Omar Belim Gulla (18) contributing 65 runs from 15 overs.

Al Shahriar Rokon and Khaled Masud Pilot, who both scored half centuries Friday, failed to maintain their performance. Rokon made 12 before caught behind while Pilot (5) was stumped.

In Bangladesh innings, the third highest score of 26 runs came from extra. Apart from Bulbul, Bidyut, Gulla and Rokon, only two other batsmen Enamul Haque Moni (13) and Ahmed Kamal (11) reached double figures.

Earlier, a whirlwind 117 runs by Brian Lara steered two-times world champions West Indies to 314 for 6 in 50 overs against ODI debutante Bangladesh in the second day-night one-day match.

West Indies skipper Lara decided to bat first in a sunny afternoon after winning the toss and made a flying start pairing with Sherwin Campbell in the opening stand to cross the 50 runs in only 5.1 overs.

Opener Campbell returned to the pavilion scoring 28 runs off 30 balls that featured four fours leaving team total 98 for 1 in 10.3 overs. Local debutante seam bowler Ahmed Kamal Colonel forced Campbell to edge behind offering a simple catch to wicket keeper Khaled Masud Pilot.

Young batting talent Ricardo Powell then joined Lara to continue the entertaining batting display and took the team score past 100 in only 10.4 overs. But Powell's innings shortly came to an end when he was caught by Enamul Haque off a Khaled Mahmud Sujon delivery as he made quick 21 runs off 16 balls that included three fours and a sixer with scoreboard showing 161 for 2 in only 15.4 overs.

Lara, the world record holder batsman in both test and first class cricket, played a hurricane innings of 117 runs off 62 balls with 19 eye-catching boundaries and three huge sixes before being bowled by spinner Habibul Bashar Sumon with the score at 185 for 3 in 19.4 overs.

Brian Lara, who thrilled the local fans with masterly cuts, drive and pulls, scored his 13th ODI century in only 45 balls with 18 fours and three sixes. He plundered 22 runs off Khaled Mahmud Sujon in the 14th over.

The day's century by Lara was the second quickest century in ODI history after Shahid Afridi of Pakistan scored a 37-ball ton against Sri Lanka in Nairobi in 1996 bettering the record of Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya, who reached the mark in 48 balls against Pakistan in Singapore.

With the day's feat, Lara also entered the 6000 runs club in ODI cricket as the fourth West Indian after Desmond Haynes, Sir Vivian Richards and Richie Richardson.

Number five batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who in the first one-day match Friday made a polished unbeaten 92 runs, played another excellent innings today making 77 not out in 86 balls with five fours.

Four other batsmen - Wavell Hinds (14 in 23 balls), Ridley Jacobs (11 in 28 balls), Jimmy Adams (15 off 29 balls) and Nehemiah Perry (unbeaten 19 off 26 balls) - pulled down the run rate to 314 for 6.

Left hand spinner Enamul Haque Moni, who took his career best five wickets against West Indies in the three-day match on Oct 5, captured two vital wickets of Wavell Hinds and Jimmy Adams conceding 45 runs in his 10-overs spell.

Debutante new ball bowler Ahmed Kamal, Habibul Bashar, skipper Aminul Islam and vice-captain Khaled Mahmud Sujon took one wicket each giving away 39, 31, 50 and 78 runs respectively.

© 1999