By Brian Thomas
On a hot and humid morning, with the pitch showing a tinge of Green, West Indian Captain Kraigg Braithwaite, included a 5 man pace attack to his playing eleven and even surprised the experts in the commentary box by inviting Pakistan to take first lease of the Sabina Park pitch on day one of the 2nd Test in Kingston Jamaica.
Kraigg Braithwaite made the right call as 3 Top-order Pakistani batsmen namely, Abid Ali, Imran Butt, and Azar Ali were back in the hutch within the first 15 minutes of play with the scoreboard reading Pakistan 3 wickets for 2 runs, a shell shocker to state the least.
All three batsmen were victims of good length deliveries dished out by Kemar Roach the senior pro and the New kid on the blocks Jayden Seales. Abid Ali and Azar Ali were scalped by Roach , whilst Imran Butt fell victim to Jayden Seales. All three were caught fishing outside the off stump and caught in the slip cordon.
Cometh the hour cometh the pair in Babar Azzam and Faward Allam , the pair after a watchful and anxious 30 testing minutes in the middle took Pakistan to Lunch on 62 for 3 wickets, stitching a partnership of 60 unbeaten runs to enjoy the steak at the table.
They cut and pulled in unison, and used their feet against the West Indian 5 man seam attack with Jayson Holder the number 1 ranked ICC all-rounder in Test Cricket bowling the correct areas, but always in Cricket, remember good deliveries don’t get you the wicket the bowler is looking for.
With Pakistan looking good on 161 for 2 wickets, Kemar gets one to nip back off a back of a length delivery which Babar Azzam the Pakistani skipper edge to the wicketkeeper Da Silva and scorer recorded: Babar Azzam caught Da Silva bowled Kemar Roach 75. International analysis have noted that premier Pakistani batsman Babar Azzam has been dismissed 14 times in his last 15 innings in the slip cordon. Stating that the 158 run partnership displayed the Pakistani pairs resolute application in shot selection, temperament and importantly the discipline applied while chips were down. Batting too got easier with the ball getting older and the pitch moisture being drained out of the pitch with Sun shining in the Caribbean skies.
Sadly Faward Allam had to retire with cramps unbeaten on 76, for those who have not watched him bat he too like former West Indian Skipper Shivranin Chandrapaul has an unorthodox stance but executes the deliveries with a still head, and the feet in the right position. Young hopefuls will find his stance a bit wired, but don’t try to emulate him because Faward is unique and has mastered his skill level to Test standards.
Faward Allam can still bat at the fall of the next wicket as Pakistan ended the day when bad light halted play at 3.35 am Sri Lanka time on 212 for 4 wickets with Mohd Rizwan on 22 and Faheem Ashraf on 23, the overnight batsman for the visitors. Incidentally, West Indian Wicketkeeper too was a victim of heat exhaustion and had to leave the field. He will be monitored overnight to see his dehydration levels by the medical staff before giving him the approval to get on the park on day 2.
The ball is 74 overs old , 6 more overs left for the new ball to be taken but the West Indies want at least one scalp with the old ball to make inroads.
By the way, Sabina park was infested with flying insects that made players do lots of waving in front of their eyes. Our commentary box consisted of Ian Bishop, Jeffry de Jong , Collin Croft and Darren Samy. Sabina Park incidentally names the two bowling ends as the ” Michael Holding end and the other end as the ” Courtney Walsh end”. Not the traditional Pavilion end or the score box end like most grounds in the World. Ian Bishop stated after what Jasprit Bumrah and Mohamed Shami did to England , followed by what Kemer Roach and Jayden Seales did to Pakistan, they should be called lower-order batsmen and not tail-enders. Food for thought.
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