Cricket: Mushtaq spins Pakistan into pole position

West Indies 151 Pakistan 14-1

Mushtaq Ahmed took five wickets for the eighth time in his Test career as Pakistan took control of the first Test against West Indies at Peshawar yesterday.

The Somerset leg-spinner returned figures of 5 for 35 as the tourists were bowled out for 151 on the first day. At the close Pakistan were 14 for 1.

The West Indians slumped to 29 for 4 at lunch and then 58 for 7 before their last three wickets added 93. They lost opener Stuart Williams and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in the fourth over. Paceman Shahid Nazir dismissed both men, forcing Williams to edge to keeper Moin Khan for four and bowling Chanderpaul for a duck.

Worse was to come when Brian Lara played an uppish shot off Wasim Akram and was caught in the gully by Mushtaq Ahmed for three before Mushtaq trapped Sherwin Campbell lbw for 15 on the stroke of lunch. After the break Mushtaq bowled Phil Simmons for one, deceived Carl Hooper (26) with a flipper and bowled debutant leg-spinner Rawl Lewis for four.

Nottinghamshire yesterday stepped up their efforts to sign Chris Adams as the Derbyshire batsman assesses his options before deciding his future next week.

The 27-year-old successfully fought to be downgraded by the England and Wales Cricket Board's Registration Standing Committee to a List Two player last week to give him the option of being able to join any county.

Sussex are believed to be favourites, having offered him a lucrative contract of around pounds 90,000-a-year plus the captaincy.

But Nottinghamshire, who are expecting to wrap up the signing of Lancashire batsman Jason Gallian later this week having already secured Paul Strang as their overseas player, are also in the hunt and have held negotiations with Adams.

Dean Jones, the former Australian Test batsman, said yesterday he was prepared to defy a strike, if one is called by the Australian Cricketers' Association, and would even captain the country.

The ACB is believed to be prepared to field a back-up Australian team if the ACA decides to call its members out for either the 4 and 9 December one-day matches against South Africa.

Jones said he would only support strike action if it was solely for better pay and conditions for players in the domestic Sheffield Shield competition.

(First day; West Indies won toss)

WEST INDIES - First Innings

S C Williams c Moin Khan b Shahid Nazir 4

S L Campbell lbw Mushtaq Ahmed 15

S Chanderpaul b Shahid Nazir 0

*B C Lara c Mushtaq Ahmed b Wasim Akram 3

C L Hooper c Mohammad Wasim b Mushtaq 26

P V Simmons b Mushtaq 1

D Williams b Azhar Mahmood 31

R N Lewis b Mushtaq 4

I R Bishop b Azhar Mahmood 20

C E L Ambrose lbw Mushtaq 30

C A Walsh not out 9

Extras (lb6 nb2) 8

Total (60.3 overs) 151

Fall: 1-9 2-9 3-16 4-29 5-45 6-50 7-58 8-106 9-129

Bowling: Wasim Akram 14-5-29-1, Shahid Nazir 10-1-32-2, Azhar Mahmood 14-2-35-2, Mushtaq Ahmed 18.3-7-35-5, Arshad Khan 4-1-14-0.

PAKISTAN - First innings

Saeed Anwer not out 10

Aamir Sohail c Lara b Walsh 4

Ejaz Ahmed not out 0

Total (for 1, 4.3 overs) 14

Fall: 1-10

To bat: Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim, Moin Khan, Azhar Mahmood, *Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed, Arshad Khan, Shahid Nazir.

Bowling (to date): Ambrose 2.3-0-9-0, Walsh 2-1-5-1.

Umpires: D Shepherd (Eng) and Said Shah (Pak).