Seales takes five as West Indies beat Pakistan by 90 runs

Jayden Seales took five wickets as West Indies defeated Pakistan by 90 runs in the first cricket Test yesterday (28 July), despite an unbeaten 58 from Pakistan captain Babar Azam and a late 49-run stand with No. 11 Mohammad Abbas.

Chasing 211 after West Indies were bowled out for 181 in their second innings, Pakistan collapsed to 71-9 before Babar and Abbas delayed the inevitable with a stubborn partnership.

Seales finished with 5-20 as Pakistan struggled against accurate bowling. Abbas was the last batter dismissed, scoring 23 shortly after the tea interval on Day 4, with Pakistan on 120.

Babar's 32nd Test half-century was a rare bright spot in Pakistan's otherwise poor batting display. He reached his 50 off 81 balls with Pakistan at 88-9, while the rest of the batters had contributed only 38 runs.

"We played good cricket in the last few days but today we were not up to the mark as a batting unit," Babar said. "We lost back-to-back wickets. We will look to make sure it doesn't happen in the next matches."

The second and final Test of the series begins Sunday (02 August).

Pakistan's second-innings collapse followed a similar pattern to its first innings. After reaching 244-4, including a century from Shan Masood, Pakistan lost its final six wickets for just 38 runs and was bowled out for 282, giving West Indies a 29-run first-innings lead. West Indies had scored 311 in their first innings.

Masood's century was Pakistan's only hundred in the match. Imam-ul-Haq scored 63 in the first innings, while Babar made a half-century in the second. Apart from them, only six Pakistan batters managed to reach double figures. Abbas' 23 was joint-fourth highest among Pakistan's batters.

Masood suffered a hand injury while batting in the first innings and was moved from No. 3 to No. 8 in the batting order Tuesday, further weakening Pakistan's lineup.

West Indies resumed the fourth day at 126-7, holding a 155-run lead. Shamar Joseph increased his score from 22 to 38, while Kemar Roach moved from 5 to 18 as the hosts pushed their advantage beyond 200.

That proved sufficient as Pakistan lost Imam-ul-Haq for three in the third over, beginning another major batting collapse.

Babar held one end together, but among Pakistan's top six batters, only Mohammad Rizwan, with 11, managed to reach double figures.

Excluding Babar and Abbas, Pakistan's scores were 3, 3, 0, 11, 0, 2, 3, 4 and 0.

Seales led the attack with his early wickets, while Roach took 2-27 and Justin Greaves 2-12. Seales returned to claim the final wicket, trapping Abbas lbw in the 41st over to complete his fifth five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

Greaves, who took 5-27 in Pakistan's first innings, was named player of the match.

"We came in and tried to be just as disciplined as possible," Greaves said. "I mimicked Mohammad Abbas' fuller lengths when he bowled against us in the first and second innings and it pretty much worked out for us."

Abbas took 3-63 and 5-22 for Pakistan in the match.