Kieran Powell made only his second Test century as the West Indies took control on day one of the first Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
Powell was 115 not out with Shivnarine Chanderpaul on 46 as the Windies recovered well from losing three wickets in the morning session to reach 228 for three by tea.
The tourists' plan to hit debutant spinner Sohag Gazi hard early on looked like paying dividends when Chris Gayle launched the first ball of the Test for six and added another as the first over yielded 18 runs. But the 21-year-old kept his cool and Gayle became his first victim in Test cricket when he went for 24 from 17 balls, caught by Mahmudullah at long-off.
The West Indies had moved the score on to 74 before Gazi then removed Darren Bravo, caught by Rubel Hossain at point.
And Gazi had two hands in the dismissal of Marlon Samuels in the final over before lunch, diving forward to take the catch as Samuels pulled Shahadat Hossain's delivery to deep square leg to depart for 16.
While all that was going on, Powell was calmly building his innings, the only scare coming early when he was on seven. Again it was Gazi causing problems as Powell mis-timed his shot, edging for Rubel Hossain to catch with a dive to his left, but Powell escaped as the ball had struck the silly point's helmet on the way through.
He was 41 not out at lunch and reached his half-century with a four off Shahadat. It was only his sixth, but reaching 50 appeared to give him freedom as his next 30 runs contained another six.
Fellow left-hander Chanderpaul was playing a typically understated supporting role and took 55 balls to reach 20, but took over the bulk of the scoring duties as Powell slowed down once more in the 90s.
The opener continued to accrue singles, though, and once more a boundary took him to his landmark as he swept Shakib Al Hasan fine to reach a 166-ball ton with 16 fours and a six. He greeted Shahadat's return with three successive boundaries as the partnership reached 122 by the interval.
