Careless West Indies batting in first Test against Pakistan

There are two mottos, which I hold dearly as far as cricket is concerned – Let the Cricket Play and Stats are Facts.

 

After breaking up my night’s rest to watch the first Test between Pakistan and West Indies in Multan last week, which Kraigg Brathwaite’s team lost by 127 runs inside three days, I was hurt by the West Indies’ batting display despite the pretty talk of “a dry spinning pitch from day one.”

 

With the luck of the toss, Pakistan made 230 and 157 and dismissed West Indies for 137 and 123.

It was the shortest-ever Test to produce a result on Pakistani soil. And stats provided by ESPNcricinfo are fascinating.

 

Brathwaite acknowledged that it was Pakistan’s right to prepare a surface to their liking while challenging his batsmen and bowlers to adapt to it better for the second and final Test, which starts tomorrow at the same venue.

“I’ve played on surfaces that spun from day one, but this was the first time I’ve seen such cracks on a pitch on day one,” Brathwaite said.

 

“We expect the same type of pitch in the second Test and we’ve got to come better. It was a difficult pitch to bat on for sure. But it’s their decision how they want the pitch. We’ve just got to come good.”

Injudicious strokes by key batsmen, however, proved to be part of the West Indies downfall.

 

Significantly, West Indies’ first innings was the first instance in men’s Tests where the batters at Nos. 9, 10 and 11 produced the top three innings scores: (Jomel Warrican (31 not out at No. 10), Jayden Seales (22 at No. 11), and Gudakesh Motie (19 at No. 9).

 

Only twice before, the Nos. 10 and 11 were the top scorers in a men’s Test innings – Australia’s Tom Garrett and Edwin Evans against England in 1885 and England’s Jack Leach and Saqib Mahmood against West Indies in 2022.

It was an excellent match for 32-year-old left-arm spinner Warrican, who grabbed his first-ever five-for in Tests (7-32 in the second innings) as he ended with ten for 101 to record his first 10-wicket haul in a Test (his 18th) as well.

 

Warrican’s 7-32 was the best by a visiting spinner in men’s Tests in Pakistan. Ravi Ratnayeke (Sri Lanka) and Kapil Dev (India) are the only visiting players in Pakistan with better figures than Warrican – both claimed eight-wicket hauls.

 

Warrican is also only the fifth visiting bowler to bag a ten-wicket match haul in Pakistan and the first from the West Indies.

 

Apart from Warrican, there were a couple other eye-catching performances by West Indies players. Alick Athanaze looked assured in scoring 55 off 68 balls with seven boundaries and debutant wicketkeeper/batsman Tevin Imlach was sharp with the gloves.

 

West Indies were mainly undermined by off-spinner Sajid Khan, who had match figures of nine for 115 including five for 50 in the second innings and was named Player Of The Match.

 

Among the stats, which gripped me were the following:

• 1064 – Balls bowled across the four innings in Multan, the fewest in a men’s Test match hosted by Pakistan to produce a result. The previous shortest completed Test in Pakistan was also played between Pakistan and West Indies, in 1990 in Faisalabad, lasting 1080 balls.
• 20 wickets in 61.5 overs – Fewest balls batted by a team in a men’s Test since 1910 (where they lost all 20 wickets). The previous fewest was 450 balls against England in the 2000 Leeds Test.
• 371 – Balls faced by West Indies across two innings in Multan – by far the fewest they have faced in a Test match (where they lost all 20 wickets). The previous fewest was 450 balls against England in the 2000 Leeds Test. These are the fewest balls Pakistan needed to take 20 wickets in a men’s Test. The previous fewest was 494 balls in the 2001 Multan Test against Bangladesh.
• 34 – Total wickets between the spin bowlers in the Multan Test. These are the most wickets for spinners in a Test match in Pakistan, surpassing the 32 wickets by Pakistan and England in last year’s Multan Test.
• 19 – Wickets that fell on the second day in Multan, the most in a single day’s play in a Test match in Pakistan. The previous highest was 18 wickets on the second day of the 2003 Pakistan-Bangladesh Test, also hosted by Multan.

 

Summarised scores:

Pakistan 230 all out (68.5 overs) (Saud Shakeel 84 – 157 balls, 6 fours; Mohammad Rizwan 71 -133 balls, 9 fours; Sajid Khan 18, Shan Masood 11; Jayden Seales 3-27, Jomel Warrican 3-69, Kevin Sinclair 2-61) and 157 all out (46.4 overs) (Shan Masood 52 – 70 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes; Muhammad Hurraira 29, Kamran Ghulam 27, Salman Agha 14; Jomel Warrican 7-32).

 

West Indies 137 all out (25.2 overs) (Jomel Warrican 31 not out, Jayden Seales 22, Gudakesh Motie 19, Kraigg Brathwaite 11, Kevin Sinclair 11; Moman Ali 5-39, Sajid Khan 4-65) and 123 all out (36.3 overs) (Alick Athanaze 55 – 68 balls, 7 fours; Tevin Imlach 14, Mikyle Louis 13, Kraigg Brathwaite 12, Kevin Sinclair 10; Sajid Khan 5-50, Abrar Ahmed 4-27).

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Heartening performances by Barbados Pride players

With the regional first-class Championship starting on Wednesday, there were some heartening performances by Barbados Pride players in the second and final three-day practice match at Queen’s Park this week.

 

Three centuries were scored – Zachary McCaskie, Kevin Wickham, and Leniko Boucher – and leg-spinner Javed Leacock grabbed a five-wicket haul.

 

Barbados’ opening match in the eight-team four-day tournament is against defending champions Guyana Harpy Eagles at the Guyana National Stadium in Providence, followed by clashes with West Indies Academy (February 5-8) and Jamaica Scorpions (February 12-15) – both at Kensington Oval – before there is a three-week break.

 

Barbados squad for the match against Guyana: Raymon Reifer (captain), Leniko Boucher, Jonathan Drakes, Matthew Forde, Chaim Holder, Chemar Holder, Matthew Jones, Javed Leacock, Jair McAllister, Zachary McCaskie, Demetrius Richards, Ramon Simmonds, Kevin Wickham.

 

Summarised scores of the second Barbados Pride practice match at Queen’s Park:

Raymon Reifer X1 428-9 declared (86.5 overs) (Zachary McCaskie 103 retired out – 125 balls, 9 fours, 4 sixes; Kevin Wickham 100 – 67 balls, 11 fours, 6 sixes; Raymon Reifer 69 retired out – 126 balls, 7 fours; Ramon Simmons 39 not out, Matthew Forde 34, Chemar Holder 19, Demetrius Richards 17, Jonathan Drakes 11, Leniko Boucher 10; Matthew Jones 4-123, Stefon King 2-43).

 

Shayne Moseley X1 331-8 (55 overs) (Leniko Boucher 100 not out – 85 balls, 13 fours, 4 sixes; Akil Greenidge 70 retired not out – 79 balls, 10 fours, 1 six; Zachary Carter 60 – 56 balls, 12 fours; Tevyn Walcott 20, Matthew Jones 18; Javed Leacock 5-91, Jair McAllister 2-44).

 

Keith Holder is a veteran, award-winning freelance sports journalist, who has been covering local, regional and International cricket since 1980 as a writer and commentator. He has compiled statistics on the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) Division 1 (rebranded Elite in 2012) Championship for over four decades and provides statistics and stories for the BCA website (www.barbadoscricket.org). Email: Keithfholder@gmail.com