Sarwan warns against complacency

After the Steve Harmison-led battering in the Test series and a spirited England fightback in the one-dayers, West Indies have to prepare for a new opponent. Bangladesh have arrived, on their first-ever visit to the Caribbean, and go into the double-header at St Vincent in high spirits.

The Bangladeshis posted a morale-boosting three-wicket win in a low-scoring opener against the West Indies Cricket Board XI, a team which contained Wavell Hinds, Pedro Collins and Jermaine Lawson. Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh captain, found form with a steady 47, while Manjural Islam Rana, the slow left-armer, and Khaled Mahmud snared seven wickets between them.

Dav Whatmore, the Bangladesh coach, was realistic about his team's chances and said, "Every opposition is formidable to Bangladesh at the moment." However, Whatmore believed that Bangladesh had shown clear signs of improvement in the series against Zimbabwe, and insisted that the victory in the third one-dayer couldn't be entirely attributed to Zimbabwe's complacency.

"I'd like to think that when Bangladesh win it's not because the opposition is being complacent. I think there is enough evidence to suggest that the Bangladesh team is on the right track and can push the opposition in every match of this one-day series."

Yet, anything short of a West Indies clean-sweep will be seen as an upset. They will be without Brian Lara for the first two matches. Ramnaresh Sarwan, who will lead the team in Lara's absence, warned against complacency and rubbished the thought of Bangladesh being pushovers. "Myself and the coach and the manager have been speaking to the players after the end of the England series so that we don't under-rate anybody. The biggest concern would be getting complacent against Bangladesh." They recalled Sylvester Joseph to the side, while Tino Best is set to make his one-day debut.

Bangladesh have played 50 one-dayers after that glorious day in Northampton when they upset Pakistan in the World Cup. It has been a forgettable half-century, with the lone sparkle being the recent win against Zimbabwe. But this Caribbean summer has been about defying history - England winning a Test series here after 36 years, Lara's epochal innings. Dare we suggest it, but it's probably the ideal time for Bangladesh to pull the cat out of the bag.

West Indies 1 Ramnaresh Sarwan (capt), 2 Chris Gayle, 3 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 4 Ricardo Powell, 5 Sylvester Joseph, 6 Dwayne Smith, 7 Dwayne Bravo, 8 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 9 Ian Bradshaw, 10 Tino Best, 11 Fidel Edwards.

Bangladesh (from) Shahriar Hossain, Manjural Islam Rana, Habibul Bashar (capt), Rajin Saleh, Mohammad Ashraful, Alok Kapali, Mushfiqur Rahman, Khaled Mashud (wk), Khaled Mahmud, Mohammad Rafique, Tapash Baisya, Faisal Hossain, Hannan Sarkar, Tareq Aziz, Abdur Razzaq.