West Indies make history by bowling all 50 overs with spinners

The West Indies created a unique record in cricket history by becoming the first team ever to bowl all 50 overs of an ODI innings using only spinners.

The unprecedented feat took place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur during their second ODI against Bangladesh. In the 54-year history of one-day internationals, no team had previously completed an entire innings without using a pace bowler.

Remarkably, the West Indies included only one recognised pace-bowling all-rounder, Justin Greaves, in their line-up — but he was not called upon to bowl. The selection hinted at their intention to rely entirely on spin, and they eventually delivered all 50 overs with their slow bowlers.

Before this match, the record for most overs bowled by spinners in a single ODI innings stood at 44, held by Sri Lanka, who achieved it on three separate occasions. The Caribbean side — once renowned for its fearsome pace attack — have now surpassed that mark, setting a record that can only ever be equalled, not broken, given the 50-over format.

Earlier this year, Oman had bowled 35.3 overs entirely with spinners to dismiss the United States, which was the record for the most overs bowled without using a pacer in an ODI. The West Indies' previous best was 34 overs of spin against South Africa in Grenada in 2001.

The Mirpur ground itself has seen heavy spin usage before — notably, 40 overs of spin were bowled during a Bangladesh–West Indies match in 2012.

Interestingly, had Bangladesh bowled another 20.3 overs of spin in this game, they too would have reached 50 consecutive overs of spin. But Mustafizur Rahman's introduction after eight overs ended that possibility, making him the first pacer to bowl after 58 consecutive overs of spin in the match.

The overall record for most overs bowled by spinners in an ODI remains 78.2 overs, set during the Afghanistan–Ireland match in Dehradun in 2019, when both teams' spinners shared the workload almost equally.