Cricket: West Indies capitalise on calamities: Pakistani batsmen pay for their indiscretions as they fail to come to terms with pitch's vagaries
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Your support makes all the difference.West Indies 127 and 382
Pakistan 140 and 165
(West Indies win by 204 runs)
AN extraordinary Test match reverted to the incredulous upheavals of the opening day as the West Indies swept to victory by 204 runs over Pakistan on the third day yesterday.
After 17 wickets had tumbled on Friday for 240 runs and Pakistan had eked out a first-innings lead of 13 on a pitch of unpredictable bounce it seemed as if the outcome would be settled by continued low scoring. Instead the West Indies accelerated to 333 for 3 on the second day and a more predictable contest was in prospect. However, two batting collapses, every bit as stunning as those of Friday led to 17 more wickets falling for 214 and Pakistan were beaten with six overs of the day remaining.
Again the pitch played its part but never more than the indiscretions of the Pakistani batsmen. After their captain Wasim Akram and vice-captain Waqar Younis had refound the spark they blatantly lacked on the previous afternoon and dispatched the last seven West Indian wickets for 49 by lunch, their batsmen surrendered against good, but hardly devastating West Indian bowling.
They were undone by the low bounce of the pitch that largely accounted for the loss of their first three wickets, all leg before wicket. They were among 17 leg-before dismissals the match. Never in the history of Test cricket have so many batsmen been adjudged out in this fashion, the previous mark being 14 in Pakistan's Test against Sri Lanka at Faisalabdad in 1991.
Only Desmond Haynes had the patience and ability to last for any substantial period, remaining unbeaten throughout his team's second innings for 143.
Set 370 for victory, Pakistan needed a Haynes to at least mount a reasonable challenge. Their equivalent in a largely inexperienced batting order was Javed Miandad, in his 119th Test, with over 8,000 runs to his name and on the ground where his second innings century in almost identical circumstances in the 1988 Test very nearly earned Pakistan victory chasing 372, he came in with the innings already tottering following the loss of Ramiz Raja and Inzamam-ul-Haq and soon witnessed the loss of Aamir Sohail.
He seemed in no mood on this day to do the job demanded of him after flashing at Curtly Ambrose he did the same against Ian Bishop and touched a catch to the keeper. For a time Basit Ali and Asif Mujtaba raised Pakistan hopes of at least extending the match into the fourth day by adding 65.
But Basit's inexperience caused his downfall as, attempting to lift Carl Hooper over the top he holed out to mid-on. There were more irresponsible strokes that allowed Hooper to finish with his best Test figures of 5 for 40, none more so than the swipe by Wasim. He missed it and was understandably stumped. It adequately summed up the Pakistani effort and, following this defeat it will require a great psychological effort for them to be ready for the second Test in Barbados starting Friday.
(Third day: West Indies won toss)
WEST INDIES - First Innings 127
PAKISTAN - First Innings
(Overnight Friday: 113 for 7)
Asif Mujtaba c Lara b Bishop 10
Waqar Younis c Lara b Ambrose 16
Mushtaq Ahmed c Hooper b Bishop 3
Ata-ur-Rehman not out 3
Extras (nb6 lb6) 12
Total 140
Fall: 1-17 2-52 3-100 4-100 5-102 6-104 7-108 8-120 9-136.
Bowling: Ambrose 17-6-34-4; Bishop 15.5-6-43-5; Walsh 7-4-13-1; Cummins 5-0-19-0; Hooper 4-0-25-0.
WEST INDIES - Second Innings
(Overnight: 333 for 3)
D L Haynes not out 143
P V Simmons c Asif Mujtaba b Aamir Sohail 22
* R B Richardson c Wasim Akram b Waqar Younis 68
B C Lara b Asif Mujtaba 96
I R Bishop c Moin Khan b Wasim Akram 3
K L T Arthurton lbw b Wasim Akram 1
C L Hooper lbw b Waqar Younis 0
J R Murray lbw b Waqar Younis 0
C E L Ambrose lbw b Wasim Akram 5
A C Cummins lbw b Wasim Akram 0
C A Walsh run out 6
Extras (lb18 b1 nb17 w2) 38
Total 382
Fall cont: 4-342 5-356 6-358 7-358 8-371 9-371.
Bowling: Wasim Akram 27-3-75-4; Waqar Younis 23-2- 88-3; Ata-ur-Rehman 19-0-82-0; Mushtaq Ahmed 13-1-45- 0; Aamir Sohail 5-1-30-1; Asif Mujtaba 10-1-43-1.
PAKISTAN - Second Innings
Aamir Sohail lbw b Walsh 15
Ramiz Raja lbw b Ambrose 11
Inzamam-ul-Haq lbw b Walsh 6
Javed Miandad c Murray b Bishop 4
Basit Ali not out 11
Asif Mujtaba not out 6
*Wasim Akram st Murray b Hooper 4
Moin Khan c Bishop b Hooper 18
Waqar Younis lbw b Walsh 1
Mushtaq Ahmed not out 12
Ata-ur-Rehman c Ambrose b Hooper 19
Extras (lb10, nb8) 18
Total 165
Fall: 1-17 2-34 3-40 4-42 5-109 6-11 7-114 8-127 9-134.
Bowling: Ambrose 13-3-37-1; Bishop 11-2-28-1; Walsh 12- 3-29-3; Cummins 5-1-16-0; Simmons 1-0-5-0; Hooper 11.5- 3-40-5.
Umpires: H D Bird and S U Bucknor.
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