Windies blow away Bangladesh.

"How many times can you write that this tournament has been staged a month too early?" asked one journalist while trying to stop his laptop being ripped from his hands and sent back across the Irish Sea by a strong Easterly. The answer, as far as journalists battling with the conditions in the marquee which doubled as a press box at the Clontarf ground, and which was trying to embark on a new career as a hovercraft, was not many. Yesterday, it was just too cold to type, let alone play cricket.

The rain did at least hold off for long enough for Bangladesh to convince a sceptical cricket watching public that they are at least worthy of their place in this tournament. The West Indies, however, have some work to do before they prove themselves worthy of a place in the Super Sixes. Fortunately for captain Brian Lara, a ragged West Indian bowling performance went largely unpunished by a nervous Bangladeshi batting line up, and the Bangladeshi bowling was not good enough to test the West Indian batsmen.

Walsh, the man of the match, was the only West Indian bowler who could hold his head high at the close. He took the first wicket, of Shariar Hossain, when the Bangladeshi opener wafted an edge into the grateful hands of Campbell at slip. Walsh's opening partner Dillon was highly erratic but only Mehrab Hossain, one of Bangladesh's recognised performers with a century against Zimbabwe to his name, showed any postive resistance, and even he couldn't manage a genuine front foot shot until the 20th over. Khan fell to Dillon caught by Lara at mid off and the combination of Jacobs and King accounted for both captain Islam and Minazul Abedin reducing Bangladesh to 55 for four.

But Bangladesh would not be beguiled into thinking that Simmons, replacing Hendy Bryan who had toiled efficiently enough in his first spell, is a genuine fifth choice bowler. Mehrab's new partner Nahmur sent the fifth ball of his second over through the covers for four. Mehrab responded two overs later with a delightful flicked four off King's second ball to square leg, and Nahmur replied again off Simmons' next over with a cover driven four off the first ball. As the pair grew in confidence so they battled their way to a valuable partnership for Bangladesh. Nudged ones and twos to both sides of the wicket drove the score past the 100 mark. Averaging under three runs an over at the 30 over mark, off the 36th, 37th, 38th and 39th overs respectively Bangladesh scored 6,5, 7, and 8 runs. Mehrab's well-deserved 50 came up of 112 balls in the 38th over when he guided Simmons's third ball through the covers.. Emboldened by passing this landmark for only the third time in ODIs Mehrab produced the shot of the day in the next over, a brilliant lofted six over the head of Dillon.

His tenacious innings came to an end in the 43rd over when he was caught off Simmons by Chanderpaul at deep midwicket.attempting an ambitious pull. But his with Rahman, at that stage 33 not, was worth 85 runs and put Bangladesh in a position to make a game of it. Rahman lasted a further two overs, striking two further fours, one off Bryan which went straight through the hapless King's legs, until he was trapped lbw by the returning Walsh, leaving Bangladesh at 157 for 6. A flurry of further wickets followed as Khaled Mashud (4) Hoque (4) Mahmud (13) and Hussain (1) all lost their wickets cheaply to flatter the West Indian bowling figures, and Bangladesh finished on 182 all out.

Only Manjurul Islam really tested the West Indian batsmen, bowling with real pace as he had against New Zealand on Monday, and he found both opening batsmen wanting. In the sixth over Manjurul had Jacobs groping outside off on successive occasions. Jacobs replied with a flashing four past gulley, only to be beaten again, this time more comprehensively, by the last ball of the over. But by the seventh over the contest was over and with it Bangladesh's chances of causing a World Cup upset. Manjurul had lost a little of the line and some of the pace of his earlier overs and Jacobs found room to hit him to both sides of the wicket.

The West Indian batsmen quickly grew in confidence and Hasibul, whose line had already started to stray, was clearly the man to go after. Campbell crashed the 1st ball of the 11th over through midwicket for four and then the second through the covers with the same result. Captain Islam decided a change of bowler was appropriate but Hasibul's replacement Khaled Mamud fared no better. This time it was Jacobs' turn to get in on the act and he smashed Khaled's first ball for six into the clubhouse at midwicket, and the second ball for four through the same area. Bangladesh's fielding, so impressive early on, started to let them down. The turning point was perhaps Khaled's appauling overthrow in the next over, Manjurul's last, a sort of attempted toss which turned into a lobbed underarm to the boundary of the sort a sadistic fielding coach might throw up for a an errant charge, cost Bangladesh 4 runs. Campbell brought the 50 up off Khaled's next over, the 15th, striking the ball through the covers like a bullet for a four which nearly carried all the way to the boundary three feet above the ground. Campbell's ambition got the better of him trying to pull Khaled to midwicket he skied the ball to Manjurul Islam who held onto a good catch. But the now helmet-less Jacobs was in no mood to break the scoring pattern, especially now that the perfect foil, Jimmy Adams, had come to the crease. He dispatched Enamul Hoque to the boundary in the next over through the covers with a flourish, and Adams, like the good protégé he is, followed suit in the next Hoque over in his own slightly more laboured if more dependable style.

Khaled' s unimpressive figures of eight overs for 36 runs forced a change of bowler but captain Islam had nothing to choose from. Replacement Minhajul Abedin could do nothing to stop Jacobs picking his shots. Jacobs reached his 50 in the 31st over off Abedin after a couple of aborted singles. Two overs later a single that should have been aborted resulted in Jacobs' run out when a Shariar throw missed the stumps but left enough time for keeper to whip off the bails.

Brian Lara was next in and performed for the crowd with a quickfire 25, lofting Hussain over square leg and cutting Abedin gloriously away for four through backward point before holing out to Abedin in the 39th over.

Adams and incumbent Shivnarine Chanderpaul seemed happy to run down the clock until at the end of the 45th Chanderpaul signalled the beginning of the end with a four over midwicket, Adams pulled a four round to leg in the next over and then completed the match and his fifty stroking a four through the covers.

Teams: Bangladesh: Shahriar Hossain, Mehrab Hossain, Akram Khan, Aminul Islam, Minhazul Abedin, Khaled Mahmud, Naimur Rahman, Khaled Masud, Enamul Hoque, Hasibul Hussain, Monijurul Islam, Neeyamur Rashid

West Indies: Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Stuart Williams, Ridley Jacobs, Phil Simmons, Courtney Walsh, Jimmy Adams, Henderson Bryan, Mervyn Dillon, Reon King, Sherwin Campbell.