Kingston: West Indies seam bowlers Jason Holder and Jayden Seales took three-wicket each to restrict Pakistan to 217 on the opening day of the first Test at Sabin Park here, but fast bowler Mohammad Abbas grabbed two wickets off successive deliveries in the day’s penultimate over to reduce the hosts to 2/2.
Sent in to bat, Pakistan were dismissed for 217, half-hour before the scheduled close, with Fawad Alam top-scoring with 56 and Faheem Ashraf chipping in with 44. Captain Babar Azam struck 30 and Mohammad Rizwan 23, but Pakistan lost their last five wickets for 31 runs in quick time.
Holder picked up two of those wickets to end with 3/26 while the 19-year-old Seales, in only his third Test, claimed 3/70. Veteran seamer Kemar Roach made early inroads with 2/47.
However, in four overs before the close on Thursday, West Indies lost left-hander Kieran Powell and Nkrumah Bonner without scoring, to be on two runs for two wickets.
West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Roston Chase are at the crease.
“If you asked us if we would take 217 at the start of the day, I think we would’ve taken it,” Holder said after the day’s play. “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, and the movement they will extract from the surface. We just have to be a little bit tighter and give ourselves a really good chance to get a really big score.”
Brief scores: Pakistan 1st inn 217 in 70.3 overs (B Azam 30, F Alam 56, F Ashraf 44; K Roach 2/47, J Seales 3/70, J Holder 3/26) vs West Indies 2/2 in 4 overs.
(IANS)
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