Fast bowler, Mohammad Abbas picked up three wickets on a rain-hit opening day of Pakistan’s two-day warm up match at Providence yesterday.
The intra-squad match saw Pakistan ‘A’ closing on 110 for four after 41 overs despite two sessions lost to rain.
Rain was consistent for the better part of three hours, turning the ground into a pool-like environment, but the Providence Stadium lived up to its reputation as arguably the fastest drying ground in the Caribbean and with sharp work from the groundskeepers, within 40 minutes of the rain stopping, play was possible.
From then on, it was Abbas’ show. The 31-year-old staked his claim for a place in Pakistan’s side for the upcoming two-Test series against West Indies in Jamaica with figures of 3-17 from eight overs of swing and bounce.
Abbas was nippy from the get-go, with a delivery shaping back in enough to trap Imran Butt, who was dropped on eight off of Shaheen Afridi, with a leg before wicket for nine while Babar Azam misjudged the amount of swing Abbas was getting and opted to leave it alone only to be bowled for seven.
Abid Ali resisted the threat and worked the spinners well as he toiled his way to 31 from 69 balls before trickling an edge to Sarfarz Ahmed behind the stump off of Abbas.
Ali had shared a 30-run stand with Azhar Ali who was given leg before wicket to Faheem Ashraf for 13, but from then on it was the batting of Fawad Alam and Mohammad Rizwan that dominated.
Rizwan did not allow the bowlers to settle with his movement about the crease, cruising to 28 not out from 53 balls. His innings featured two fours and one six, which was hoisted over long-off against the bowling of left-arm spinner, Nauman Ali.
Alam on the other hand was unorthodox with his side-facing stance that made it difficult for the bowlers to pick up their line. He worked his way to 21 from 58 balls. His innings featured two boundaries and complimented an unbroken 48-run partnership between himself and Rizwan. The match resumes at 10.00 hours today.
