West Indies 303 for 7 (Hope 89*, Hodge 84, Abbas 3-63) vs Pakistan
A stubborn undefeated knock from Shai Hope was the only thing standing between Pakistan and a vulnerable West Indies lower order. In a session where Pakistan got the old ball to talk, they kept knocking West Indies’ batters over regularly, getting four wickets before lunch to put themselves on the cusp of bowling the hosts out. But Hope represents the only material chance West Indies retain of substantially adding to the 109 runs they managed in a session the visitors edged.Pakistan had spent a turgid final session on Saturday wicketless, but West Indies had managed no boundaries either, and thus were by no means out of sight. Pakistan set the tone when Khurram Shahzad drew the top-scorer Kavem Hodge into prodding at a wide one that Salman Agha grasped comfortably.
It followed an hour of plays and misses as the old ball nipped and swung sharply. Pakistan’s seam bowlers have been criticised for lacking pace, but they made up for it with wobble, continually discomfiting the batters. Azan Awais put down a golden opportunity to get rid of Hope when he nicked Mohammad Ali off to the slips, but Ali’s persistence eventually paid off as that probing off stump line found Justin Greaves’ outside edge, with Agha ensuring he made no mistake once more.
Curiously, the new ball appeared to dilute the threat the seam bowlers posed, but by no means extinguished it. While Hope looked largely comfortable for the rest of the session, he was very much on his own in that aspect. Mohammad Abbas’ characteristic accuracy found a feather off Roston Chase’s outside edge, while Shahzad came back to extinguish Kemar Roach’s stubborn resistance to reduce West Indies to seven down.
There was time for Shamar Joseph to play a enterprising little cameo to break the shackles before the players went in for lunch. More importantly for West Indies, though, is the man he keeps company as Hope inches towards a gritty Test hundred.
