enders batted well as they recovered to make 238 all out in their first innings of the first Test against a makeshift West Indies side. West Indies, missing all its first choice players due to a strike, lost opener Dale Richards in the seven overs before the close, ending the day on 17 for one . Despite the slow wicket, West Indies, which has selected just four specialist batsmen, may well have a hard job to surpass the tourist's total. The second-string bowlers produced an excellent morning session to have Bangladesh struggling at 121 for six at lunch. Resuming on 42-0 after the heavily rain-affected first day, the tourists lost both openers within quick succession as Tamim Iqbal went, caught by West Indies skipper Floyd Reifer at first slip off paceman Tino Best. Imrul Kayes then misjudged a Darren Sammy delivery, shouldering arms but being given out lbw as the ball nipped back. Four more wickets before the break left the tourists in trouble and after a post-lunch rain stoppage Mohammed Mahmudallah was caught by Omar Phillips at gully off the impressive Kemar Roach, to leave Bangladesh at 149 for seven. Mushfiqur Rahim played patiently and intelligently for his 36 before he was turned back by captain Mashrage Mortaza and run out at the non-strikers end. Mortaza and Shahadat Hossain put on a valuable 35 run partnership for the ninth wicket and even after Roach had the skipper caught behind, for his team's top score of 39, Bangladesh's tail wagged some more. Shahadat Hossain (33) was joined by Rubel Hossain and they put on 31 for the final wicket to set a total which may yet prove to be a challenging one. Richards, making his Test debut at 32 years of age, got off the mark in style by smashing Mortaza over midwicket for six, but then misjudged spinner Shakib Al Hasan and was trapped leg before. Ryan Austin came in as nightwatchman to partner Omar Phillips through to the close. Talks fail Talks between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the players' union ended after just 23 minutes on Thursday when the board refused to negotiate while the players remained on strike. The leading Test players from the Caribbean have boycotted the series against Bangladesh, which began with the first Test on Thursday, due to a dispute about contracts and payments.
