Mayers shows how it's done

After that famous 210 not out in Chattogram last year on debut, Kyle Mayers said, "I don't want to remain a one-match wonder." It was one of the greatest match-winning knocks in the fourth innings on Asian soil and Mayers couldn't have asked for a better start to his Test career. 

But since then, his numbers, prior to this Test match, had been underwhelming. In 20 innings between that Chattogram Test and the St. Lucia Test, Mayers had scored only 421 runs at an average of just 22.15 with two fifties. 

Although his batting form dipped big time, Mayers emerged as a more than handy medium pace bowler who can move the ball both ways and has a knack for breaking partnerships. He picked up a match-winning five-wicket haul against England in their previous series and six wickets in three innings in the ongoing series against Bangladesh. 

But a big knock was long overdue from a batter who showed so much promise so early in his career. Mayer's last fifty ahead of this match came in March last year and the first challenge for the left-hander was to get a fifty-plus score to overcome the drought. 

Mayers came into the crease after a chaotic few minutes as his side lost three batters in a space of 12 deliveries. His partner Jermaine Blackwood was yet to get off the mark. And he was up against his nemesis - Mehidy Hasan Miraz - who got him out four times before that.

He had to negotiate six balls before going into the luncheon break, which he did successfully. 

After the play resumed, Mayers got a lucky boundary off the outside-edge off Ebadot Hossain. But he grew in confidence when he struck Miraz for a six over long-off. It was like breaking the mental barrier. Miraz always had the upper hand against Mayers but this very shot changed a lot of things. 

And he raced to 32 off 38 and the momentum slowly started to shift towards the hosts. He reached his fifty off 75 balls.

He added 116 with Jermaine Blackwood before the latter was dismissed early in the third session. Mayers became a bit watchful after his partner's fall but again turned the 'fearless mode' on as he was nearing the century. The southpaw struck Shoriful Islam for a four and a six to bring up his second Test hundred. And he did well to stay unbeaten at stumps on day two and helped the West Indies gain a massive advantage in the game. 

Mayers got lucky on quite a few occasions as outside-edges flew past the slip cordon. But then again, one needs some luck to turn things around.

It was that six off Miraz that got him going although he said that he didn't think about the off-spinner too much. "I think he is a good bowler and I never had it in my mind that he got me out before. Anyone can get anyone out once a bowler bowls a good delivery so I don't go about playing names. I just play the ball," said Mayers.

Mayers took 31 runs off Miraz, the most by him off any Bangladesh bowler in the innings and it's safe to say that the batter from Barbados won the battle quite convincingly. 

Bangladesh missed a trick by not forcing Mayers to play more on the on-side. He is known to be a player who is very strong on the off-side and almost half of his runs came through the cover region. He struck as many as eight boundaries through the covers. 

"I think they bowled well in patches and when I got the opportunity to score, I tried to maximise it. It's just a patience game. As I said, it's just not the pitch where you can blast the opposition. You have to be patient in both batting and bowling and any chance I got, I tried to capitalise on it," Mayers explained his game plan.