Pakistan spin West Indies on opening day in Guyana Test
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Saeed-Ajmal-c87859 claimed 4 wickets for 63 runs.
Ajmal was accompanied by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Abdur-Rehman-c41691 once again lived up to his potential with 2 wickets to his credit and conceded 46 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Green-c60723.
Windies won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that was expected to be a batting paradise, but it turned out to be more than favourable for the spinners.
Saeed Ajmal was surprised by the amount of turn the pitch offered and said “That wicket was turning very much. It was good for spinners. It was dry and it bounced as well. In my 10 Test matches, it the first time I’ve seen a first day with such big turn”.
Spin bowlers bowled 68 out of 90 overs on the day.
Mohammad Hafeez provided the much needed breakthrough, with Devon Smith’s vital wicket. It seems that now Hafeez has become Devon Smith’s weakness, as he fell to him in the World Cup quarter-final, and three times in the recent One Day International (ODI)
series on home soil.
Next man in was Darren Bravo, together with Simmons he engineered an impressive second wicket stand, which led the Windies to 66/1 at lunch time.
But fast bowler, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wahab-Riaz-c95839, ended the 55-run partnership, as Bravo walked back to the pavilion after he was trapped leg before the wicket.
Pakistani spinners, through their controlled flight and length, did not offer any room to Bravo to play his natural game. In 85 deliveries Bravo claimed only two boundaries, Windies did not seem to enjoy their share of luck as ten balls later Simmons received
a painful blow from Wahab around his knee that forced him to retire hurt.
It all came down to the most experienced campaigners, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Both batsmen through their ability to soak pressure crafted a much needed fight back by compiling a 46-run partnership.
But they failed to capitalize, as Rehman just before tea time, succeeded to break the partnership by dismissing Ramnaresh Sarwan. Sarwan’s dismissal was a debatable one and it was ruled not-out by umpire Tony http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hill-c63180, but the third Umpire gave him out.
Ravi Rampaul was the last batsmen to go, as he became the victim of some intelligent spin bowling from Hafeez.
The most talked about delivery was the one bowled by Saeed Ajmal to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shivnarine-Chanderpaul-c90073 to rattle his stumps and finish Caribbean hopes of a big total.
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