Tea West Indies 30 for 3 (Chanderpaul 15*, Hope 2*, Abbas 2-7) and 311 (Hope 92, Hodge 84, Abbas 4-50) lead Pakistan 282 (Masood 109, Imam 63, Greaves 5-27) by 59 runs
In seven spotless overs, he did for Brandon King and Kavem Hodge in trademark Abbas fashion, coaxing a feather after relentless prodding on a fourth-stump line with a seaming ball. Mohammad Ali helped him out by snaring Amir Jangoo late in the session with a splendid return catch to reduce West Indies to 30 for 3, ensuring Pakistan go into tea having enjoyed the better of the middle passage.
The day so far has belonged to Greaves, the unlikely West Indies bowling hero, who produced a career-best five-fer to tear through Pakistan’s lower order. After the first hour and a half of the day was taken up by Shan Masood and Salman Agha cautiously edging towards 250, the floodgates opened when Shamar Joseph knocked Agha’s stumps back with a lovely delivery that seamed away. Greaves got Masood to chop on in the following over, and under sustained pressure from him, Pakistan’s lower order fell apart.
Masood had begun the day with the circumspect approach that marked his innings once post tea on Sunday. A little punch through the covers brought up his seventh Test hundred, and while Agha and Masood frustrated West Indies, there was enough encouragement to keep the hosts interested. While the wickets weren’t falling, Pakistan’s position grew only stronger, the odd boundary taking them closer to West Indies’ total.
It all changed in the blink of an eye. Joseph had been probing along the off stump line, and produced an unplayable delivery that straightened off the seam. It turned Agha around as he closed the bat face, only to see off stump cartwheeling.
Masood, meanwhile, pushed with hard hands at Greaves in the following over, and this time, the ball went off the inside edge onto the stumps to end an innings that might easily have ended two sessions earlier. It put greater scrutiny on Pakistan’s decision to line up a batter short, especially as Aamer Jamal played all around a straight ball from Greaves that uprooted his middle stump.
By now, Greaves was on a roll, dispensing with debutant Ali Usman with minimal effort, bringing one back into his pads to trap him in front. Pakistan’s discipline had evaporated with the heat Greaves was bringing and Mohammad Rizwan was induced into flapping rashly at Greaves on the cusp of lunch, with the edge swallowed by the keeper. The other side of lunch, he made it five wickets in five maiden overs in a scarcely believable spell that yanked Pakistan right out of the driver’s seat they had begun to get comfortable in.
Danyal Rasool is Cricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000
