Lunch Pakistan 59 for 2 (Babar 12*, Younis 0*) trail by West Indies 286 (Chase 63, Holder 57*, Dowrich 56, Amir 6-44) 227 runs
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Shannon Gabriel was Mohammad Amir’s sixth wicket © AFP
In an evenly-contested morning session, after the rain relented in Jamaica and the outfield dried, Pakistan moved cautiously to 59 for 2 against some accurate bowling after West Indies’ first innings had been ended for 286.
Unsurprisingly, Mohammad Amir was the man who wrapped up the home side’s innings, which seemed to stretch on interminably owing to a combination of uncooperative weather – the resumption was delayed by an hour on the third morning – and a vigorously wagging tail. They came out nine wickets down, and Amir needed just nine deliveries to account for Shannon Gabriel. It was almost a replica of the ball that did for Alzarri Joseph the previous day, angling in to Gabriel from around the wicket to crash into the middle stump and give Amir his career-best bowling figures.
Gabriel and Joseph weren’t able to produce the sort of extravagant movement that their Pakistani counterparts managed on the opening day, emphasising perhaps the importance of winning the toss on a surface that appears to have significantly improved to bat on. Even so, Pakistan were dealt an early blow when Azhar Ali, indisputably their best batsmen of late, fell to a short wide delivery from Joseph that he will rue flashing at. It caught the edge and Shane Dowrich took a smart catch behind the wicket, but from Pakistan’s point of view it will have felt like a wicket gifted.
Azhar’s wicket was followed by a passage of play where the run-scoring almost ground to a halt; only seven runs were scored off the first eight overs of the Babar Azam-Ahmed Shehzad partnership. Frustratingly for the West Indies, though, their inability to take appropriate advantage of the review system carried over from the ODIs, when Jason Holder decided against going upstairs for a leg-before shout against Babar, despite replays showing the decision would have been overturned.
Holder would soon get his reward, though, as he trapped Shehzad in front with a lovely delivery that nipped struck his back leg. It was one of the few deliveries that moved for the West Indies, which perhaps unsettled Shehzad as much as the quality of the ball itself. That brought Younis Khan to the crease and attention turned to his countdown towards 10,000 Test runs. He was still just as far from the landmark by the time lunch was called, with both sides looking like they have plenty of work to do to plot a path to victory in a Test where the elements may yet have a major say.
Danyal Rasool is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Danny61000
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo