The West Indies were seeking revenge at Providence. Instead, the apathetic Caribbean Boys cowered under a blistering attack from Shahid ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi as Pakistan drew first blood in the five-match ODI series winning by 126 runs yesterday.
Afridi’s belligerent half century followed by his astonishing seven-wicket haul shot down an out-of-sorts West Indies for 98 runs during the clash at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence. Notwithstanding the slightly overcast conditions and a brief period of drizzle, the touring Pakistani side wasted no time in embarrassing host West Indies in front of a sold-out, cricket starved crowd. Despite the exclusion of notable Guyanese players who would have placed themselves in contention for selection based on recent performances, the non-Guyanese West Indies squad managed to fill the National Stadium to capacity but failed to reward the ever loyal Guyanese cricket fans who came out in droves to rally behind their team.
The Windies won the toss and choose to field, restricting the Pakistanis to a modest 224 for 9 in 50 overs thanks to fast bowler Jason Holder’s four-wicket burst which left the tourists teetering at 23 for 4 inside 10 overs.
The new ball pair of Holder and Kemar Roach bowled with venom and control, shaping the white ball in and away from the tourists. Openers Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad looked positive watching and leaving the ball confidently and both managed to register boundaries through the covers in their innings. But their stay was brief.
First to go was Shehzad (5) who crunched a square drive off Holder but was immediately bowled the following ball while attempting to avoid an in-swinging delivery. Mohammed Hafeez (1) who has not been in the best of form with the bat as of late continued his poor run and was dismissed in similar fashion as Shehzad, as he left alone a Holder delivery that in-swung and knocked his off-peg back.
With the score at 18 for two, Pakistan skipper Misbah ul-Haq came to the crease with Jamshed to do the repairs. Three runs later, Jamshed was given out LBW for a patient 6. TV replays showed that he was a bit unlucky as the ball pitched outside the line of off-stump and seemed a bit high as well.
Asad Shafiq failed to trouble the scorers and became Holder’s fourth victim edging one to wicket-keeper Johnson Charles who took a brilliant one handed diving catch. With Pakistan reeling at 23 for 4 after nine overs, slight showers intervened and play was delayed for 30 minutes.
The resumption saw the tourists on the back foot as Umar Akmal and his skipper played cautiously. Misbah was very watchful only scoring 6 off 41 balls, while Akmal had 18 from 32 – the partnership was 22 from 61. Eventually Akmal picked out Windies skipper Dwayne Bravo who was patrolling the long on boundary, giving Roach his first wicket
The flamboyant Afridi then came to the party and immediately opened his account with a six clearing his front leg and smacking Roach over his head; he then took Bravo for a six in the stands followed by a four over the top of extra cover. Afridi was then dropped on the next ball by Chris Gayle at first slip.
The all-rounder after his reprieve carried on by smashing off-spinner Sunil Narine for a straight six followed by a cut shot for four, eventually bringing up the team’s 100 in the 30th over. Afridi brought up his half century from a mere 35 balls which included 5 boundaries and 3 sixes and continued on his way hitting sixes and fours at will.
The pair brought up their century partnership off 95 balls, followed by the team’s 150 score in the 36th over. Looking for another big shot, Afridi held out to Darren Sammy in the deep, ending his destructive innings of 76 in which he hammered six fours and five sixes.
Misbah continued his crafty innings and registered a patient half century which took 112 balls and included one four. He was then dismissed, caught by Johnson Charles off Bravo.
Wahab Riaz was then dismissed by Roach while Saeed Ajmal (15) not out and Mohammad Irfan (4) not out took Pakistan to their total at the end of their 50 overs.
Holder ended with excellent figures of 10 overs, 4 maidens, four for 13 and was backed up by Kemar Roach who picked up 2 for 38, while Bravo added another 2 wickets for 52, and Keiron Pollard chipped in with one
Chasing 225 for a win, the West Indies got off to a nightmare start as they were reduced to 7 for 3 inside five overs, eventually being scuttled for 98 in 41 overs. Charles was bowled by Mohammad Irfan on the first ball he faced. A few runs later the younger Bravo, Darren, fended off a “snorter” from Irfan which ended up in the gloves of Akmal.
The knockout shot for West Indies came when Gayle was run out for 1 by Pakistan Skipper Misbah as he tried to reach the striker’s end after Samuels played a shot for a quick single.
Lendl Simmons looked uncertain from the start and was stumped for 10 by Akmal off the bowling of Afridi, who had his first wicket. Skipper Bravo who has been struggling for form fell for nought the very next ball lbw to Afridi who was on a hat-trick.
With the score at 41 for 5, Pollard’s (3) poor run continued when he skied an Afridi delivery to Wahab Riaz at long-off. Marlon Samuels who had been hanging in, fell soon after, being trapped LBW to a ball that pitched dead straight hitting his middle stumps.
Kemar Roach tried to aid in the chase but was caught and bowled by Afridi who had registered his 9th five-wicket haul in ODI’s. Sammy and Narine played a few shots trying to take their team home in a hopeless chase.
With a 9th wicket stand of 43 between the two, Narine was dismissed for 14 as he hit Afridi to Jamshed at short cover.
After struggling to get out of the blocks, Sammy ended on 21 not out with one four as last man Holder was trapped LBW for duck as the all-rounder Afridi mopped up the Caribbean boys ending with figures of 9 overs, 3 maidens, 7 wickets for 12 runs.
Irfan also played a crucial part up front as he grabbed 2 for 17.
At the post match ceremony, Afridi was named Man-of-the-match for his brilliant innings with both bat and ball, while West Indies Captain Bravo briefly noted that he was disappointed with himself and the team’s performance, while admitting that the West Indies “buckled under pressure.”
He further mentioned that he was pleased with Holder’s performance with the ball and highlighted that when bowlers perform like Holder did, it can put any team under pressure. The skipper also noted that Narine and Ajmal were the ICC ranked number one and number two bowlers respectively, but had a mixed day by their standards.
He concluded by saying that he will continue to back his team and the squad picked was the best possible XI. As a result of the team’s showing, no hints about team changes for tomorrow’s game were given by Bravo.
The West Indies will now seek to regroup ahead of tomorrow’s second ODI which will take place at the same venue beginning at 9am.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN
Nasir Jamshed lbw b Holder 6
Ahmed Shehzad b Holder 5
Mohammad Hafeez b Holder 1
Misbah-ul-Haq* c †Charles
b DJ Bravo 52
Asad Shafiq c †Charles b Holder 0
Umar Akmal† c DJ Bravo
b Roach 19
Shahid Afridi c Sammy b Pollard 76
Wahab Riaz c Holder b Roach 7
Saeed Ajmal not out 15
Asad Ali b DJ Bravo 11
Mohammad Irfan not out 4
Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 23) 28
Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 224
Fall of wickets 1-15 (Ahmed Shehzad, 3.3 ov), 2-18 (Mohammad Hafeez, 5.6 ov), 3-21 (Nasir Jamshed, 7.6 ov), 4-23 (Asad Shafiq, 9.1 ov), 5-47 (Umar Akmal, 20.1 ov), 6-167 (Shahid Afridi, 38.6 ov), 7-183 (Wahab Riaz, 44.2 ov), 8-200 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 47.2 ov), 9-220 (Asad Ali, 49.5 ov)
Bowling:Roach 10-0-38-2, Holder 10-4-13-4,Sammy 8-2-35-0,Bravo10-3-52-2, Narine3-0-32-0,Samuels 3-0-24-0, Pollard 6-0-25-1
WEST INDIES
CH Gayle run out (Misbah-ul-Haq) 1
Charles† b Mohammad Irfan 0
DM Bravo c †Umar Akmal
b Mohammad Irfan 5
M Samuels lbw b Shahid Afridi 25
L Simmons st †Umar Akmal
b Shahid Afridi 10
DJ Bravo* lbw b Shahid Afridi 0
K Pollard c Wahab Riaz
b Shahid Afridi 3
D Sammy not out 21
K Roach c & b Shahid Afridi 1
S Narine c Nasir Jamshed
b Shahid Afridi 14
J Holder lbw b Shahid Afridi 1
Extras ( b1, lb 6, w11) 18
Total (ten wickets, 41 overs) 98
Fall of wickets 1-1 (Charles, 0.2 ov), 2-7 (DM Bravo, 4.3 ov), 3-7 (Gayle, 4.6 ov), 4-41 (Simmons, 22.1 ov), 5-41 (DJ Bravo, 22.2 ov), 6-50 (Pollard, 26.1 ov), 7-51 (Samuels, 28.2 ov), 8-55 (Roach, 30.4 ov), 9-98 (Narine, 40.2 ov), 10-98 (Holder, 40.6 ov)
Bowling: Mohammad Irfan, 7-2-17-2, Asad Ali 5-0-13-0, Wahab Riaz 5-1-8-0, Saeed Ajmal 7-0-25-0,Mohammad Hafeez 8-1-16-0, Shahid Afridi 9-3-12-7.
Result:Pakistan won by 126 runs
Player of the match:Shahid Afridi
Toss: West Indies
Umpire: Paul Reiffel and Joel Wilson, TV Nigel Llong
