Greaves bowls West Indies to 90-run win over Pakistan

A sensational all-round effort from West Indies’ battery of fast bowlers swept aside a sorry Pakistan batting line-up in little over a session, securing a crushing 90-run win in Tarouba to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. Jayden Seales’ five-wicket haul led the way as his fast bowling compatriots backed him up, skittling Pakistan out for 120 in just over 40 overs. Chasing 211, Pakistan were hopelessly outgunned from the outset, losing three wickets before lunch, with Babar Azam limply hanging on until he swiftly, and inevitably, ran out of partners at the other end. It inflicts a record extending eighth consecutive away Test defeat for Pakistan, and ensures West Indies cannot lose the series. Pakistan’s well-established inability to chase in the final innings meant there was jeopardy right from the outset on the fourth day as Shamar Joseph and Kemar Roach looked to add more runs to a priceless eighth-wicket partnership. Having come in at 93-7, they had extended the lead to 155 overnight. The day began with a wayward over from Mohammad Ali and equally lacklustre keeping from Mohammad Rizwan, with four byes and a dropped catch by the keeper gifting the hosts a bonus eight runs to kick things off. Mohammad Rizwan is comprehensively bowled (Photo: AFP/Getty Images) The first half hour saw runscoring come to both batters easily, with Joseph continuing with his belligerence, a straight six off Khurram Shahzad perhaps the shot of the day. By the time a slower ball from Ali pierced his defences, the partnership had added 61. The last two wickets kept chipping away with a cluster of useful runs, adding another 27 before Mohammad Abbas returned to clean up the tail, and pick up a richly deserved five-wicket haul in the process. But if West Indies felt they had won that first hour, things were about to get exponentially better. Roach and Seales were accurate with their lines right from the outset, and when one jagged back into Imam-ul-Haq, it took his gloves with it en route to the keeper. Azan Awais did not last much longer with Seales lulling him into an expansive drive and producing enough sideways movement to draw an edge. But he saved his best delivery of the session for Salman Agha, nipping it in sharply from over the wicket and stealing past the inside edge to ram into the front pad on middle stump. The injury Shan Masood picked up batting in the previous innings kept him away from his usual batting slot , but West Indies continued picking up wickets with minimal effort. Justin Greaves continued his astonishing exploits from the first innings into this one, seaming away from Rizwan’s outside edge to clean up his off stump with his first legitimate delivery. He made it seven wickets in seven overs by trapping an especially unconvincing Aamer Jamal – promoted stratospherically high to No. 6 – in front of the stumps. Jamal had earlier required a concussion test after leaning into a slightly short of length ball that he ended up wearing on the helmet. Babar Azam played some delightful shots in getting to a half-century (Photo: AFP/Getty Images) Masood finally walked out after Ali Usman’s forgettable debut ended with an edge to second slip, but the discomfort he was in was obvious. The fractured finger on the right hand caused him to effectively bat one handed, and it was only a matter of time before his limited mobility caused him to scoop tamely to backward point. As Pakistan disintegrated rapidly, resistance came in the form of an entertaining, though ultimately meaningless, tenth-wicket partnership between Babar and Abbas. While Babar initially shielded Abbas from the strike, getting to his 32nd half-century, he soon began to hand the bulk of the strike to the No. 11. Neither survival nor caution was on his mind as he cleared the front leg and swung wildly, riding his luck to the innings’ second highest score. But it was like screaming into the void, resistance without the heroism. Pakistan dragged West Indies to tea, but Seales, who took five wickets on debut against this opposition, struck Abbas on the pads with his second delivery of the session, and Pakistan’s resistance, modest as it was, was finally broken. West Indies had the win they had deserved, and on what would have been Garry Sobers’ 90th birthday, a mourning region had been given its present. (Cricinfo)