Roston Chase took four wickets for West Indies with the home side finishing at 14/0 in response at stumps.

By Abdullah Ansari (11th May, 2017)

Toss: West Indies won the toss, Jason Holder chose to field first.

Teams

West Indies: KC Brathwaite, KOA Powell, SO Hetmyer, SD Hope, VA Singh, SO Dowrich†, RL Chase, JO Holder*, D Bishoo, AS Joseph, ST Gabriel

Pakistan: Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Abbas

Play began half an hour early due to the overs lost because of rain on Day 1. A bad ball from Gabriel was dispatched for four by Younis is the first over of the day but the next five overs were all maidens as the batsmen tried to settle down on Day 2. The ninth over of the day saw the home side make the breakthrough as Younis was pinned in front of the stumps by Holder - the batsman reviewed but the ball was clipping the stumps. Misbah received a guard of honour, similar to the one afforded to Younis as he came to the crease. The 6th ball that Misbah faced was a good one from Holder and the Pakistan captain edged it but a diving Dowrich couldn't take the catch. He again edged one off Bishoo but the ball didn't carry to the slip fielder, whilst Azhar Ali neared a hundred at the other end. Misbah was finally off the mark off the 22nd ball he faced and Azhar brought up his 14th Test ton on the next ball. West Indies delayed taking the second new ball but couldn't find the breakthrough as the 200 was raised. The new ball was finally taken in the 90th over and Pakistan's score seemingly stayed static for a while with Misbah facing a massive struggle to get any runs at all. He was on an astonishing 1 off 51 deliveries before he drove a full toss for four. Azhar was solid at the other end as Pakistan went to the Lunch break at 227/3, having scored 58 runs in the 30-over session.

Misbah looked for more run-scoring opportunities after the resumption but the partnership was slow to progress. The pressure finally got to Azhar after a few overs as he looked to launch Chase to the leg-side, missed and was bowled for 127. Misbah got away a couple of boundaries to begin the partnership with Shafiq but the rate of scoring once again came to a halt as Misbah struggled to rotate strike while Shafiq began in a slow manner as usual. When the spinner Chase came into the attack, Shafiq went after him, hitting two boundaries but the bowler struck back in the next over as the batsman tried to clear the fielder at the boundary but was caught for 17. Misbah finally began to get runs on a more consistent basis against the spin of Bishoo and Chase, eventually bringing up his fifty off 144 balls. He launched Chase for a six with a big slog sweep but fell on the next ball as he went for an extravagant reverse sweep but only managed to edge it to the wicket-keeper, having made 59 off 148 balls. Tea was taken with Pakistan at 311/6.

The evening session started with a shaky Amir almost edging behind and then surviving a big appeal and review for LBW. He didn't last long as Holder came around the wicket and angled it into the batsman, castling his stumps. Yasir got an excellent delivery first up, one that moved away a tad and squared him up as he edged to the slips for a golden duck. Abbas was given a promotion above Hasan and looked to make it count as he displayed his solid defence whilst Sarfraz looked to manoeuvre strike to build Pakistan's total. The two continued frustrating the bowlers as Sarfraz got the occasional boundary to compliment his running between the wickets while Abbas was defiant. A review was taken against Sarfraz for LBW but he had got bat on it and the wicket-keeper soon brought up an impressive fifty off just 67 balls, in contrast to his teammates who all looked very ponderous at the crease. He was eventually dismissed as he went for an extravagant drive off Bishoo and edged to slip. Hasan smacked a couple of boundaries but Abbas' stay was brought to an end as he was stumped off Bishoo after making just 4 off 43 balls with Pakistan bowled out for 376. The West Indian openers came out to face around an hour of the visiting bowlers. Amir and Abbas were accurate with the new ball, getting movement and threatening the openers with one vociferous LBW appeal against Powell, but the opener had got bat on it. The rate of scoring was slow with the batsmen looking to survive and soon Yasir and Hasan were brought on for short spells before play came to a close. The home side unscathed at 14/0 in 11 overs.

Summary: An interesting day of cricket in Dominica, with the Test match well in the balance. The Pakistani batsmen really struggled to get going with Azhar circumspect at the start and then Misbah completely bringing scoring to a standstill. It was only Sarfraz's effort that took the run-rate above 2.5 at the end. Azhar and Misbah showed grit and resilience to fight through times where they couldn't find any runs but both fell at times where Pakistan's position in the match was still shaky. Sarfraz's innings, however, ensured that Pakistan got fairly close to 400 and now West Indies will need to bat out Day 3 and put up a big score or else Pakistan will be ahead of the game.

Fall of wickets: 

3-177 (Younis Khan, 77.5 ov)
4-241 (Azhar Ali, 106.3 ov)
5-274 (Asad Shafiq, 118.5 ov)
6-311 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 126.2 ov)
7-322 (Mohammad Amir, 129.2 ov)
8-322 (Yasir Shah, 129.3 ov)
9-367 (Sarfraz Ahmed, 144.5 ov)
10-376 (Mohammad Abbas, 146.3 ov)

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