Visiting West Indies defeated Bangladesh by two wickets at Mirpur in the first of their two scheduled 2026 Tests. An away series that will conclude the West Indies’ involvement in the current 2025-2027 International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Championship cycle.
The series’ second Test will be played at Bangladesh’s Sylhet stadium from November 5-9, 2026. Victory in which would catapult West Indies from its current position of eight to a far more commendable sixth in the ICC’s Test rankings. It would also mark the West Indies first series win within the current ICC Test Championship cycle. Having won individual Tests against both Sri Lanka and Pakistan, but not yet an actual series.
Regardless of the forthcoming Sylhet Test’s outcome, the Mirpur victory has already signaled a progressively successful 2026 for the West Indies team. 3 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw over their five most recent matches have been a much improved record by comparison to those in recent years.
Heading into the next 2027-2028 ICC Test Championship cycle, such results should now provide beleaguered West Indies cricket fans with justifiable cause for optimism. More importantly, they will have also eased the pressure on the often maligned West Indies Head Coach Daren Sammy and his entire coaching staff!
Ahead of the Sylhet second Test, Sammy had expressed his satisfaction with the team’s overall progress. “I want the same mentality, and a little bit more hunger …. It is also important that we finish the year on a high!”
Sammy pointed to the red-ball players’ stint in Chennai just ahead of the Bangladesh Test series as a big reason for the competence the batters showed against spin in Dhaka.
“A pleasing aspect was the way we fought, the way we stayed in the game, but I must go to the preparation put into that camp. Kudos to Cricket West Indies for allowing us to practice and prepare in Chennai at the Super Kings Academy and Sri Ramachandra Centre for Sports Science,” Sammy said. “Batting coach Floyd Reifer, the work he and Sriram Krishnamurthy, high-performance coach at the Academy, did with the batters, preparing them for these conditions, led us to what you saw from the batters versus spin. Then obviously the preparation we put in once we got here and seeing it transfer into the match that was always pleasing for us.
“But if you look at how we’ve been progressing as a Test team, I think the team is now settling. The roles that we have challenged each of the players to play, they seem to be settling into that role.
“Also just the way we bowled, I think our spinners out-bowled their spinners, and our batsmen responded to playing spin better than theirs. I think that was one of the most pleasing things for me and for Floyd. So that was some of the key things that really impressed me in this game.”
Sammy was also highly complementary in his comments about Roston Chase’s continuing West Indies Test captaincy. Chase led from the front during the Mirpur Test. Scoring a crucial 43 not out during the West Indies first innings that allowed his team to get to 245. Just 27 runs short of Bangladesh’s posted 272 first-innings score.
Chase then produced his most impressive bowling figures since becoming captain. Capturing 5-36 off 15.4 overs to help skittle Bangladesh for a meagre second innings total of 142. This left the West Indies needing only 170 for victory. A target that was very easily achieved for the loss of only two wickets.
In the five Tests and seven innings batted this 2026 year, Chase has scored 365 runs at an average of 56.85. His runs have also included one century and a fifty, as well as a whopping 194 as his highest score.
Admittedly, Chase’s 2026 bowling returns have not been nearly as impressive as those for his batting. Only seven wickets at an overall average of 38.56. A wickets-captured tally which includes the 5-36 he took in Mirpur, en route to also taking his 100 Test wicket as a West Indies off-spinner.
Chase’s performance with both bat and ball would have effectively silenced the many critics who had previously, justifiably, questioned the merits of his inclusion in the West Indies playing elevens, purely as a player. A silence which should now remain in effect at least for the time being and well into next year’s 2027-2028 ICC Test Championship cycle.
Much the same can now also be said about both the West Indies batting and bowling. In terms of the former, with Shai Hope likely to return from his well-deserved rest in time for the forthcoming home series against Afghanistan, the West Indies top-order batting will likely remain as Brandon King and John Campbell as openers followed by Kaveem Hodge, Shai Hope, Justin Greaves, Amir Jangoo and Roston Chase in that order. With Jangoo also performing wicket-keeping duties behind the stumps.
Such a settled batting order will likely relegate Tagenarine Chanderpaul to the role of the back-up third-choice opener. Warming the benches and handling towels until and unless unforeseen injuries or illness to either Campbell or King provide actual playing opportunities.
Now aged 33, Campbell is, however, three years older than the 30-year-old Chanderpaul. As such, the latter has relative youth on his side amidst the reassurance that his chance may eventually come. Towards that end, he’d be best advised to work on drastically improving his scoring ratio as his innings to date have been unproductively pedestrian. Valued time spent at the crease with correspondingly too few runs to show.
Some time spent with either Brian Lara or even his dad, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, on learning how to simply use his wrists to essay stroked deliveries to the right or left of posted fielders might do wonders for young Tage. Whose biggest fault to date has been his tendency to hit the greater majority of balls he faces directly to fielders.
Similar to the batting, the West Indies Test bowling attack now appears to be very settled. Jomel Warrican’s returns over the past few years have undisputedly established him as the West Indies’ most effective spinner. With Chase and the emerging Joshua Bishop providing useful backup, the West Indies spin bowling department will most likely remain constant for much of the forthcoming 2027-2028 Test Championship cycle.
So too will the fast bowing department, with Jayden Seales, a returning Alzarri Joseph and his namesake Shamar Joseph spearheading the West Indies pace attack well into the foreseeable future. The only question mark at this time would be the continued longevity of the ageing Kemar Roach.
Now aged 38 and having already established himself as one of the West Indies leading Test wicket-takers. Roach is currently fifth on that prestigious list with 304 scalps. Well within sight of surpassing the fourth-placed Lance Gibbs, whose tally was 309. How much longer he continues beyond that possible milestone is anyone’s best guess.
If and when Roach does decide to retire, there will hopefully be, more than sufficient ready replacements. Including the raw pace-equipped, exciting nineteen-year-old Barbadian Jayden Pollard.
The forthcoming Bangladesh 2nd Test will now likely be as closely followed as any the West Indies have played in recent years. If only for its capacity to indicate as to whether the West Indies improving Test fortunes of late have indeed been causes for justifiable optimism. Or just another oasis mirage in a continuing desert of performance inconsistency!
About The Writer:
Guyana-born, Canada-based Tony McWatt’s articles on Caribbean and Canadian cricket have now spanned well over thirty years. He is the son of the late former Guyana and West Indies wicket-keeper batsman Clifford “Babyboy” McWatt.
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