Innings break West Indies 286 (Chase 63, Holder 57*, Dowrich 56, Amir 6-44) v Pakistan
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Shannon Gabriel was Mohammad Amir’s sixth wicket © AFP
Mohammad Amir claimed career best bowling figures as Pakistan wrapped up West Indies’ first innings for 286 at Sabina Park. Despite lasting just over 90 overs, it was an innings that stretched over three days owing to a combination of poor light, leaky covers on the pitch and intermittent showers.
Although an early start was scheduled for the third in order to make up time, a wet outfield eventually meant play began an hour late at 10.30am. West Indies resumed with an eye on 300, with captain Jason Holder unbeaten on 55, but they only added eight runs to the total before Amir cleaned up Shannon Gabriel for figures of 4 for 44 – which replaced his previous best bowling figures from his fateful appearance at Lord’s seven years ago.
West Indies’ total was still a more competitive effort than had looked likely when they were reduced to 71 for 5 shortly after lunch on the first day. But Roston Chase and Shane Dowrich showed resilience during a stand of 118, before Holder and Devendra Bishoo added a second revival during a brisk, counter-attacking 75-run partnership.
Amir claimed his fourth and fifth wickets with the second new ball in the small amount play possible on Saturday; his first five-wicket haul in Tests since Lord’s 2010. After struggling to find his best form since returning to Test cricket last year, he will truly hope to have relegated that episode to history once and for all.
Pakistan will look to make up for lost time in their first innings, but all eyes are on a batting statistic this time around. Younis Khan, who has said this will be his last series, is 23 runs away from becoming the first Pakistani to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.
Danyal Rasool is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Danny61000
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo