 West Indies stunned Pakistan in the first Test match to win the game at
the Providence in Guyana by 40 runs on the fourth day of the Test match. It was
a low-scoring game that saw the sides struggle to bat on a treacherous wicket
which had the pitch crumbling from the first day of the game itself and giving
it away to the bowlers.
When the fourth day resumed, the Pakistanis were 80/3, with two of their batsmen
Asad Shafiq and Misbah ul Haq at the crease and in good form. Shafiq
was on 34 and Misbah on 40, which meant that the two had got set and a target
of 219 wouldn't have been too distant from the touring side.
Instead, just 15 balls into the day's play, Ravi Rampaul got one to jag back
into the batsman and bowled Shafiq for almost no addition to the overnight total.
However, it did not deter the side too much as the pair of Misbah and Umar Akmal were then involved in an aggressive 52-run stand that came from 18
overs.
At 135/4 again, the game looked firmly in control of the Pakistan side but
with the knowledge that one wicker could change things around for the home side.
That is exactly what happened. Darren Sammy got his first wicket of the
innings as he had Misbah ul Haq caught plumb in front of the stumps for a 162-ball
innings of 52. In the same over, the new wicket-keeper Mohammad Salman was the
trapped plumb by the same bowler and the side had lost two at the same score
of 135.
There was a brief resurrection with Akmal trying to go after the bowling but Abdur
Rehman was then dismissed by Ravi Rampaul, who got his fourth wicket. Umar Gul
was then lbw to Sammy and by the time Akmal was also lbw to the same bowler for
39, Pakistan had sunk to 166/9 and were out of the game. Sammy bowled the last
man Saeed Ajmal to end the game with a five wicket haul and win the man of the
match award.
This was West Indies' first Test match win in two years and the side was only
happy to lap up the celebrations.
Earlier, batting first, they had scored 226 before bowling Pakistan out for
160 and then scoring 152 in their second essay. The last wicket stand for the
West Indies was 48 runs that seemed to have taken the game away from
their opponents.
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