1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

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Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

Pakistan have lost no further wickets since the previous posts. They sit at 6/357 with Yousuf on 146 and Kamran Akmal on 39.

West Indies need some quick wickets otherwise they will be facing a huge first innings deficit.
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

396/6 at lunch.

Yousuf is up to 163. Kamran Akmal is up to 61.
Pakistan lead by 190, but there's no reason not to expect that number to grow.
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

Pakistan has a very good middle order, but like Indians they have problems facing quality fast bowling and thats what happens in Australia. Infact Indians atleast have dravid to be rock solid, Pakistan unfortunately due to its weak oppening pair usually exposes the middle order very early to the new ball and we see the usuall collapses, one recently against SA in ICC championship.

If the oppeners keep them away from the earlier onslought and the ball gets old, you will always see either one of the three pilling up runs and the same thing happened in this match, Inzi and Younis missed , Yousuf fired all cylinders!
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

The West Indies seem to be unravelling , 396-6 and Yousuf and Akmal going crazy. No doubt about it though , when Yousef goes big , he goes really big!! It's good to see a top player not give it away when he reaches three figures.

Another 50 or so overs before a new ball for the visitors - it's looking like a lead of 300 plus
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

windies did a great job in the ICC championship, but they really lack a test match bowling, though they have a great batting line up. Unfortunately heavy relliance on batting will not give good results in tests. Pakistan on the other hand went a little defensive, inclusion of Razzack is a defensive ploy, i would have liked either abdurrehman the spinner or Niazi the quickie in his place, anyways with only three strike bowlers, fortunately all three, i,e Gul, Nazir and Kaneria struck and now they are in a driving seat!
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

3 quick wickets after lunch, windies have atleast not allowed pakistan a mamoth lead, 457/9 still looks a reasonably healthy score. Interestingly ramdin and gayle got both the wickets, is the wicket turning now!
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

Finally Pakistan all out at 485, last wicket put on a good 30 runs. A lead of 279 will definately test windies on a crumbling wicket. Pakistan should try to get Gayle early, lets see how they perform with the new ball.
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

Good early on, gayle on a hitting spree, two fours in an over to Gul. windies 12/0
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

Disaster striking early, Ganga run out, great work by farhat, 16/1 west indies! worst way to lose first wicket, ganga had a poor first test match, Gayle and sarwan have to do the job steadily!
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

Gul gets Gayle, 20/2 windies lost the initiative, Gul's 6ht wicket in the match, is this pressure!
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

The Windies need to get it together, take their time, they can't afford to lose too many early wickets
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

Mohammad Yousuf's monumental 192 put Pakistan in a position of immense strength at the end of the third day of the Lahore Test. Yousuf's knock, coupled with half-centuries by Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik, powered Pakistan to 485 with first-innings lead of 279. They further strengthened that position by reducing West Indies to 74 for 3 in 17 overs.


Pakistan's innings had vital contributions from the middle and lower-order batsmen, but the effort that made the difference was Yousuf's. After Pakistan lost two early wickets in the morning - including Malik's for 69 - Yousuf found an ally in Akmal, and the pair completely shut West Indies out of the match with a 148-run stand for the seventh wicket.


Like on the second day, Yousuf was unhurried in his approach. He caressed drives through the off side, picked off singles and twos on the leg, and batted with a languid elegance. He struggled first up against an inspired - and desperately luckless - Corey Collymore, survived a sharp chance to second slip, but once Collymore finished his nine-over spell, the pressure eased up and Yousuf did pretty much what he liked.


He danced down the pitch and deposited Dave Mohammed over long-off for six; and when he wanted to show his touch and artistry, he waited on the back foot and, with his wrists, tapped it to the third-man boundary. A double-hundred was there for the taking when Chris Gayle deceived him with a magnificently flighted delivery that drew him forward and then left him stranded.


If Yousuf was the glue that held Pakistan together, then the feisty Akmal was the one who provided the impetus with his stroke-filled 78. When he came in to bat, West Indies had reduced Pakistan from 265 for 4 to 285 for 6. Akmal being the last of the competent batsmen, another wicket then could have put West Indies in a position to restrict the deficit.


However, as has happened so often in the match, the moment West Indies seemed to be fighting back, Pakistan shut them out again. Intent on putting the bowlers on the back foot, Akmal attacked from the outset, driving fluently through the off side, and cutting and pulling with aplomb when the bowlers pitched it short. Fidel Edwards, easily the most lacklustre of the three fast bowlers, was pulled twice for fours in his first over of the day, before being driven through and over the off side when he pitched it up. It finally required Gayle's part-time offspin to end the partnership, but there was still more resistance from Pakistan's last-wicket pair. Danish Kaneria, too, swatted a couple of boundaries en route to his second-highest score in Tests.


A deficit of 279 was a huge disadvantage to start with in the second innings and it got even worse when both Daren Ganga and Gayle fell in the five overs before tea. Imran Farhat, not one of Pakistan's best fielders, ended a dismal Test for Ganga with a moment of sheer inspiration, picking up the ball and throwing down the stumps from square leg, while Gayle succumbed to a superb delivery which seamed away.


Brian Lara began with two crisply struck fours off his first two balls, and with Ramnaresh Sarwan was putting the innings back on track when umpire Asoka de Silva, ruled Sarwan lbw when the ball was clearly going over the stumps.


Edwards, the nightwatchman hung on with Lara till the light deteriorated and forced the umpires to call off play about 15 minutes before the scheduled close. But with two more days to go, the relief for West Indies is surely only a temporary one
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

marlyminks;113397 said:
The Windies need to get it together, take their time, they can't afford to lose too many early wickets
Click to expand...
True. They also need to get rid of the cockyness in their team.
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

Jerk, please do not copy articles from other websites.
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

Well, Day 4 has begun, with the West Indies just looking to survive.

Fidel Edwards was in as the nightwatchman, and looked decent for a while. Shahid Nazir finally got him, out for 10. Still though, Edwards lasted another 29 minutes into Day 4, for a total of 38 balls. A decent showing from him (anytime he gets double figures should count as decent).

West Indies now 106/4, trailing by 173 runs.
Lara and Chanderpaul will need to hang on for a while.
It would be nice if they could at least make Pakistan bat again.
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

cleazer;113590 said:
Jerk, please do not copy articles from other websites.
Click to expand...

I did not copy article from other site:mad:
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

169/4, still trail by 110 runs

It's been a good partnership between Lara and Chanderpaul so far, the best of the match for the West Indies. They have another half hour to make it to lunch.
 
Re: 1st Test: Pakistan vs West Indies at Lahore

As so often in the past , it's Lara and Chanderpaul with their backs to the wall. In what is almost definitely Lara's last visit to Pakistan , a ton in a losing cause might bring some consolation to Windies fans.

It's a real long haul from here for the visitors.
 
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