West Indies-Pakistan Test encounters since 1958 - II (24 Nov 1997)

24 November 1997

West Indies-Pakistan Test encounters since 1958 - II

By Mohammad Shoaib Ahmed

In November 1980, Clive Lloyd brought a West Indian squad which included five fast bowlers determined to break the deadlock. They were the first team to beat Pakistan on their own soil since 1967-70. The squad's chief objective was achieved by virtue of their win in the second Test at Faisalabad, the only match of the four-Test series not to be affected by bad weather. Two surprise omission were of fast bowler Andy Roberts and long serving wicket-keeper Dereck Muray. At Lahore, in the first Test Pakistan player, after Intikhab Alam to reach the Test double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets to their name. He had received good support from Wasim Raja (76) and Sarfraz Nawaz(55) that carried Pakistan's total to 369. The loss of third day's play due to heavy rain left little for either teams to achieve.

The second Test, played on an under prepared wicket, failed to blunt the cutting edge of West Indian pace battery as they steamroller to an easy win. The three spinners i.e. Qadir, Qasim and Mohammad Nazir shared all the twenty wickets, and it was only due to valuable fifties in each innings by Viv Richards. Set an almost impossible 302 to win, Pakistan batting was ripped apart on the fourth day and the venue, notorious for its lifeless wicket, had produced a definite result.

At Karachi in the third Test, Miandad opted to bat on a drying wicket, a decision that backfired. With six routed to 128 all out, having lost first four wickets for 14. The loss of first day due to bad weather helped Pakistan,thanks to Wasim Raja's defiant 77* on the final day, to draw the game. On an uneven surface,thee sight of big Caribbean fast bowlers pounding the cherry at an extremely quick velocity produced a cricketing nightmare. In the first innings Zaheer paid the price for ineffective drying facilities when he took a nasty blow on the forehead facing Colin Croft.

The introduction of Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium, Multan as a new Test centre, was marred by an unfortunate incident on the second day. The West Indian fast bowler, Sylvester Clarke, infuriated by persistent orange-pelting from the crowd, removed a brick boundary marker and hit one of the leaders of a local student's union. Play had to be halted for 25 minutes due to crowd eruption and it took Alvin Kallicharran's banded knee appeal to restore the game. On the field there was little to report apart from Viv Richards' masterly 120* despite a leg injury, on a worn out pitch. There was only 40 minutes play possible on the fourth and none at all on the fifth.

Six years later, Imran Khan was made the Pakistan captain in the 1986-87 series against West Indies at home. In the opening Test at Faisalabad on a recently-laid wicket, Pakistan staged the most astonishing fight back in their Test history to go one up in the series. The tourists led by 89 on the first innings and had taken two early wickets in the second when first nighwatchman, Saleem Yousuf (61) and Wasim Akram (66) helped by lusty blows at number nine took Pakistan's total to 328. The last wicket stand between Wasim Akram and Saleem Malik, with his fractured left arm in plaster after a blow from Courtney Walsh, realised precious thirty-two runs. The visitors chasing a target of 240 runs to win on worn wicket, folded to their all-time low score of 53, with Abdul Qadir (6/16) having the time of his life.

The next Test at Lahore, saw the West Indians coming back with a vengeance and winning by an innings, within three days. The third and final Test at Karachi, proved to be another nail-biting affair. Skipper Imran Khan and Tauseef Ahmed defied the West Indies to achieve an honourable draw and thus shared the series they had come close to winning.

Pakistan became the first side in more than ten years to beat the West Indians in a home Test match and could have won the series had a few critical umpiring decision not gone against them in the final Test at Bridgetown. Pakistan won the first Test of the 1987-88 series convincingly with Imran taking eleven wickets and Javed scoring his first Test century against West Indies. The second Test was an epic encounter which rightly concluded as a draw, with Pakistan's last man Abdul Qadir blocking the last five balls of the match from Viv Richards. The final Test was won by the West Indies by a narrow two-wicket margin. Apart from Marshall's fiery bowling the Pakistanis also suffered due to some inconsistent umpiring which enabled West Indies to maintain their sixteen years old unbeaten record at home.

West Indies shared the 1990-91 Pakistan season with New Zealand. The Karachi wicket with low and unpredictable bounce, did not encourage strokeplay at all and the two 'Ws' Wasim and Waqar shared fifteen of the twenty wickets to fall. Shoaib's 86 in eight hours and a charming hundred from Saleem malik rescued the home team from 27-3. The West Indian captain Desmond Haynes superb 117 in the first innings failed to take the side's total beyond 261. A superb spell of fast bowling by Marshall (4 wickets in 13 balls) on the third day, turned the match upside down and helped the visitors to square the series befittingly with a seven wickets win at Faisalabad. The third and final Test at Lahore ended in a draw.

The unpredictable bounce and inept batting display at Port-of-Spain, the venue for the first Test of the 1992-93 series, resulted in tourists losing the match on the third day by a huge margin of 204 runs. This match will also be remembered for the record number (17) of lbw's given in one Test match. The second Test at Bridgetown brought further agony for the tourists. The dropped catches and ill-directed bowling resulted in the home team reaching a massive total. Pakistan in reply were all out for 221, inspite of Basit Ali's brave knock of 92. Asked to follow-on, they fared slightly better but still could only get 28 ahead, and thus a ten wicket defeat in four days. The third and final Test at St Johns Antigua ended in a draw. Rain prevented any play on the final day, thus ended a series and a nightmarish tour for Pakistan under Wasim Akram's captaincy.(Concluded)

Source:: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)