Tigers elect to field first

Kingstown - Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and put the West Indies in to bat on the opening day of the first match of the two-Test series at the Arnos Vale Stadium on Friday.

West Indies omitted fast bowling all-rounder Jason Holder and spinner Shane Shillingford from the final XI and will therefore be relying again on Sulieman Benn as the frontline spinner, a role he performed admirably in the three-Test series against New Zealand two months ago.

Shannon Gabriel, the fastest of three pacers in the line-up, and middle-order batsman Jermaine Blackwood, return to the team after being dropped following the second Test against the Black Caps in Trinidad.

Having been swept 3-0 in the One-Day International series preceding the Tests, Bangladesh are playing two debutants in off-spinning all-rounder Shuvagata Hom and left-arm spinner Taijul Islam.

At the venue where they pulled off an historic victory in the corresponding Test five years ago, the tourists have packed the side with batting in hopes of blunting the threat of a much stronger West Indies side than the one they faced in 2009.

Teams:

West Indies - Chris Gayle, Kraigg Brathwaite, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Jermaine Blackwood, Denesh Ramdin (captain), Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach, Sulieman Benn, Shannon Gabriel.

Bangladesh - Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Shamsur Rahman, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Shuvagata Hom, Rubel Hossain, Taijul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain.

Umpires - Marais Erasmus (RSA), Richard Illingworth (ENG)

TV Umpire - Steve Davis (AUS)

Match Referee - Roshan Mahanama (SL)