Pakistan made West Indies toil on Thursday on the second day of the second and final test at the Windsor Park Stadium.
Resuming on day two on 169/2 with Azhar Alie on 85 and Younis Khan on 10, the visitors found runs hard to get and in the meantime, Khan was trapped LBW to Holder for 18.
West Indies formed their second guard of honour, and then outdid their generosity by dropping Misbah on 0. He was squared up by a ball that shaped away and the resulting outside edge was dropped by the wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich. It was his second drop of the Test so far.
Azhar Alie went on to score his 14th test hundred, 127, before he became one of Chase’s 4th victims. Captain Misbah- ul-Hac labored for 59 of 148 balls. Wicket keeper Sarfraz Ahmed batting with the tail scored 51 to see his team to 376 all out.
Chase grabbed 4/103; Holder 3 for 71 and Bishoo 2 for 61.
Speaking to reporters Chase said, “It was a good performance for me picking up four I would have loved to have five but it didn’t happen…good performance from the guys.”
He said the track looks good to bat and he is hopeful that the West Indies batters will do well.
“The track seems good to bat on, so I am hopeful that we will bat and put ourselves in a good situation. All I am looking to do is go all the way for the team and this has always been my goal. The guys are in good spirit, catches will be dropped, and this is cricket, so all we have done is stay focused. I am learning on the job and improving on my bowling skills as well. I am a focused individual, we are hoping to bat all of the third day and then take it from there,” he stated.
Azhar Alie the Pakistan century maker says he is happy to have made another significant contribution to the team.
“I am really happy; scoring a 100 in a test match is always good. We have put runs on the board and so we are looking to take the advantage. The wicket is flat, outfield slow, so we have to bowl in the right areas and restrict them. Also they have to bat last…there is turn in the wicket and we are hoping that it will turn more and put pressure on the West Indies to our advantage,” he said.
He continued; “The outfield is slow, the ball gets soft so it’s hard to really get going, it was just tough we wanted to score 400 plus but fell short, we have the runs on the board and so will be putting the pressure on them. I am a positive person and scoring a hundred is no different since I am always ready for whatever comes my way for the team.”
West Indies safely negotiated an awkward last half hour to head to stumps on 14 without having to lose a wicket in response to Pakistan’s first innings total of 376.
Kraigg Brathwaite and Keiron Powell were circumspect, eager to bat again today and technically adept enough to deserve it.
That only 14 runs came off the 11 overs they faced will bother no one, considering Pakistan had trudged along in much the same way for almost two sessions.
It was a gripping day of test cricket. Pakistan must have done what they had to do to ensure they are not defeated, while west Indies what they had to do to ensure they still have a chance. My only disappointment was that of Misbah- ul-Hac not getting his last test hundred here. After the match I would like to interview Mishbah or any member of the Pakistan team, not so much to talk about cricket but to ask them if they know the whereabouts of a well loved Dominican by the name of Aliereza Monfared, who is a very good friend of Prime Minister Skerrit , and who was allowed to hide in Dominica for 6 months, with full protection and assistance from our government, after it was well known that he was a wanted man. I will ask them because Pakistan is not far from Iran and might be in a better position to tell us if they hearing anything about our boy, since the DLP had a rally last weekend in Portsmouth, the home town of Emmanuel Nanthan, and they said nothing about our son Monfared.
Why do u want to mix-up cricket with politics?
We have a great chance at winning the series. Just bat cautiously.
Let’s go Windies!
What kind of headline is this? So we should feel good that they didn’t score 600 runs? What doesn’t the headline read “West Indies Allows Pakistan to Score More Than 300”?
At 169 for end of first day didn’t u expect them to score over 400? To bowl them for less than 400 was very good and suits the headline