vs West Indies - 1st Test Match
The Teams
1) U.Tariq
2) Y.Khan
3) I.Ul-Haq
4) S.Niazi
5) A.Alam
6) S.Afridi
7) A.Nisar
8) R.Afridi
9) S.Akhtar
10) D.Kaneria
11) M.Asif
Nisar, Riaz Afridi, Akhtar and Kaneria in for Butt, Yousuf, Aftab and Ahmed.
1) C.Gayle
2) S.Ganga
3) B.Lara
4) S.Chanderpaul
5) R.Sarwan
6) R.Hinds
7) C.Baugh
8) D.Bravo
9) R.Nurse
10) J.Lawson
11) C.Collymore
Bravo in for Mohammed and Collymore in for Jeremy
The Result
West Indies 385
D.Bravo 121
B.Lara 111
R.Afridi 4-37
M.Asif 2-81
West Indies 407/5
B.Lara 140*
S.Ganga 95
S.Afridi 3-137
S.Akhtar 1-84
Pakistan 583
U.Tariq 187
Y.Khan 173
C.Collymore 3-114
D.Bravo 3-132
Pakistan 154/1
U.Tariq 67*
Y.Khan 51
D.Bravo 1-32
Match Drawn
MotM: Lara
Interruptions: None
Reaction
We lost the toss and West Indies decided to bat first. Gayle started them off well with a good score of 47 but Ganga couldn't stay with him. Lara came in and continued his fantastic tour as he batted with the middle order, but no-one could stay in with him. He finally went for 111 of 184 but there was another century to come. Dwayne Bravo overtook Lara's score and hit 121 as he batted with the tail. A tale of two batsmen I think it is fair to say. Riaz Afridi was sensational with the ball managing 4-37 whilst none of the other bowlers really stepped up.
It was then our chance to bat, which we did, but rather slowly. We ended up with 583 runs after 208 overs. We had the best of starts, being 376/0 at one stage. Two quick wickets, Tariq(187) and Khan(173), saw the score look worse but we were definitely in control. Niazi came and went, only managing 5. Inzi didn't last long either with his 29 before Shahid Afridi came and went for a mere 4 runs. Alam made a sensational 94 batting with Nisar(29) before the tail skittled out, with us getting 583 in total.
It was then their turn to bat again and this time their top order prevailed. Gayle was great again but failed to get his half century again. He got 47 in the first innings and 49 in the second! Ganga and Lara then had a brilliant partnership of 141 before Ganga got caught for 95. Chanderpaul and Lara then had a great partnership aswell as West Indies took control. Chanderpaul finally going for 76 runs. Lara was as good as he was in his prime. Sarwan and Hinds, both went for less than 5 runs before West Indies declared for 407/5. Shahid Afridi was the only bowler to do well, getting 3-137 which although expensively, was the only person getting the wickets.
We only had to knock out the overs to get a draw and we did just that. Tariq and Khan played very well together before Khan went shortly after getting his half century. Inzimam Ul-Haq and Tariq then batted out the rest of the overs as we settle for a draw. We only ended 50 runs from the target score. Some great batting though kept us in it.