Kingston – Pacers Jason Holder and Jayden Seales grabbed three wickets each, and West Indies bowled out Pakistan for 217 in their first innings on the rain-affected opening day of the first Test on Thursday in Jamaica, but then fell into trouble when they began their reply.
Holder took 3-26 from 15.3 overs and Seales grabbed 3-70 from 16 overs, and the Pakistanis were bowled out about half-hour before the rescheduled close, after the Windies won the toss and sent them into bat, finding good movement with the ball.
But the hosts lost Kieran Powell and Nkrumah Bonner to successive balls from Mohammad Abbas in only the third over of their reply and were stumbled to two for two, when bad light brought play to a close 13 overs early.
Kraigg Brathwaite, not out on one, and Roston Chase, not out on nought, will resume at the crease on Friday on a pitch still looking lively and offering the bowlers plenty of opportunity.
“If you asked us if we would take 217 at the start of the day, I think we would’ve taken it,” Holder said.
“There was disciplined bowling by everyone. Probably if I wanted to be critical, I would say there were maybe a few too many boundaries, but all in all we’d take 217.”
Of the batting reply, Holder added: “[We] just [need] some application. I think it’s going to be difficult up front, obviously with the amount of grass (on the pitch), and the movement they will extract.
“We just have to be a little bit tighter and give ourselves a really good chance to get a really big total.”
Seales and fellow pacer Kemar Roach, with two wickets, carved up the top order of the visitors’ batting and Pakistan wobbled to 101 for five either side of a rain delay that prompted an early lunch.
But when the weather cleared, West Indies were put on the back-foot, as Fawad Alam and fellow left-hander Faheem Ashraf put on 85 for the sixth wicket in humid conditions.
A sharp bit of fielding from square leg fielder Chase ended the resistance when Faheem was needlessly run out for 44 by a direct hit at the striker’s end, and though Fawad soldiered on, the Pakistanis lost their last five wickets for 31 with the Windies bowlers – led by Holder – reasserting their early dominance.
Holder bowled Fawad for the top score of 56 and then removed Abbas with his next ball to bring the innings to a close and will be on a hat-trick when he bowls in the visitors’ second innings.
The Test is the first of two between the teams at Sabina Park, being played behind closed doors because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Summarised scores:
Pakistan 217 (Fawad Alam 56, Faheem Ashraf 44, Babar Azam 30, Mohammad Rizwan 23, Azhar Ali 17, Hasan Ali 14, Imran Butt 11; Jason Holder 3-26, Jayden Seales 3-70, Kemar Roach 2-47).
West Indies two for two (Mohammad Abbas 2-2).
(Agencies)
