THE curtain comes down on Taunton’s participation in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup tomorrow, when Bangladesh take on the West Indies at the County Ground.

It pits two of the tournament’s dark horses against each other - both sides are blessed with match-winners and will know victory is crucial if they are to sneak into the semi-finals.

The sides have near-identical records so far - played four, won one, lost two, one no result - and can ill afford any other slip ups if they are to make the last four.

West Indies will be hoping for a marked improvement from their lackadaiscal display against England on Friday, when the hosts cruised to an eight-wicket win in Southampton.

The match will see Chris Gayle return to Taunton for the first time since 2016, the second of his two T20 stints with Somerset.

The first of those, a year earlier, saw Gayle blast 328 runs in three innings including a remarkable 151 not out from 62 balls against Kent - a match Somerset contrived to lose by three runs.

Bangladesh have a hard-hitting left-handed opener of their own in Tamim Iqbal, though he will be tested by a talented Windies bowling attack that includes Oshane Thomas and Sheldon Cottrell.

Two world-class all-rounders will also be on show - Bangladesh’s experienced Shakib Al-Hasan and West Indies’ explosive Andre Russell.

You can follow live coverage of tomorrow's match via countygazette.co.uk/sport