Pakistan 279/1 (90.0 ov)
West Indies
Stumps - Day 1
Pakistan dominated the first day of their 400th Test, piling on 279 for 1, after Misbah-ul-Haq won the toss and opted to bat. Openers Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam made the most of the batting-friendly conditions in Dubai, sharing a double-century stand, before Asad Shafiq came in at No. 3 and lent his weight to a batting effort that deflated West Indies.
In theory, both teams were in uncharted territory, playing their first day-night Test - and the second overall - at a time when the concept is still new, with the behaviour of the pink ball under scrutiny. In practice, the ball did not do much in the afternoon heat and, while there was a bit more for the West Indies bowlers under lights, they did not do enough to threaten the batsmen for sustained periods.
The pink ball offered very little swing to the new-ball bowlers and very little reverse-swing as it got older. On both counts, West Indies did not help their own cause. At the start of the day, both Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder were too short to give the new ball a chance to swing. Miguel Cummins bowled fuller, but not consistently enough. As the ball grew older, West Indies seemed uninterested in keeping one side shiny to extract reverse-swing.
Azhar was fluent almost from the outset, marrying a tight defence with a number of sumptuous drives. One such drive, wide of mid-off off Roston Chase's bowling, brought up his 11th Test century, off 184 balls. He didn't stop there, walking off at stumps on an unbeaten 146. His opening partner, Aslam, was the more circumspect of the two, but both batsmen were very strong on the cut when the bowlers dropped short.
Aslam often skipped out to the spinners to hit them down the ground, but was equally impressive when leaving balls outside off. He also used the sweep shot quite effectively, but it was that shot that led to his eventual downfall - he got a bottom-edge onto the stumps off Chase to depart for 90 and end a 215-run opening stand.
That brought Shafiq to the crease at No. 3. Though Shafiq has mostly batted at the No. 6 position in international cricket, he is a regular No. 3 in domestic cricket. Moreover, the adjustment from No. 6 to No. 3 is minimal when the openers have consumed more than 67 overs and the pitch has no terrors. Shafiq took his time to settle into his innings and calmly accumulated 33 runs, before walking back undefeated at stumps.
While the first ball held its shape for the full 80 overs, it was quite discoloured and tattered by the time the second new ball was due. Holder, who had looked increasingly unimpressed with the state of the older ball, took that new ball immediately. Like the first new ball, though, it did not offer much in the way of swing and the second-wicket partnership steadily swelled to 64 by the close of play.
It was Gabriel who had generated the first of two half-chances for West Indies in the first session. In his second over, he seamed one away from Azhar to induce an outside edge, but the ball fell short of Kraigg Brathwaite at second slip. Cummins generated the other in his second spell when Azhar slashed a short, wide delivery towards Leon Johnson at gully; the ball burst through Johnson's hands and raced away to third man for a boundary.
If the bowling was not sufficiently penetrative, the decision-making was also puzzling at times. West Indies used six bowlers before tea, but there was no discernible logic in the manner in which they were used. Brathwaite bowled three overs of gentle offspin before either Devendra Bishoo or Chase was introduced. By the time Bishoo was called upon, in the 21st over of the chase, Azhar and Aslam had grown in confidence and were finding the boundary with increasing regularity, pouncing whenever the bowlers erred.
The one spell that came close to being penetrative was Holder's spell immediately after the tea break. With a bit more bounce and carry under lights, Holder bowled with more intensity, troubling Azhar with some well-directed bouncers. Azhar fended a few of those in the air, but got away with it due to the lack of close-in fielders.
When Holder went up for a big lbw shout against Azhar and reviewed the not-out decision, West Indies lost their first review. Replays showed ball would have missed leg stump. Thereafter, Gabriel and Cummins also found more pace, the former bowling some good bouncers to Aslam. Bishoo also created his closest opportunity under lights, wrapping Aslam on the pads, but the not-out decision was upheld upon review when HawkEye indicated that the ball would have gone down leg with the angle.
Such fleeting moments of encouragement were all West Indies had to cling to on a deflating opening day in which the pink ball did not misbehave and the bowlers were largely unthreatening.
Day 2
Pakistan 579/3d
West Indies 69/1 (22.0 ov)
West Indies trail by 510 runs with 9 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Confronted with bowling that was toothless at best and ragged at worst, Azhar Ali marched to 302 not out, becoming the fourth Pakistan player to score a Test triple hundred. Azhar's marathon 469-ball knock anchored Pakistan's first-innings total of 579 for 3 declared, before West Indies moved to 69 for 1 in the 22 overs they had to face till stumps.
After having shared a 215-run opening stand with Sami Aslam on the first day, Azhar was well supported on the second day too, first by Asad Shafiq and then by debutant Babar Azam, before Misbah-ul-Haq played an attacking cameo leading into the declaration. Pakistan scored at well over 4 runs an over on day two, adding 300 runs in 65.3 overs as West Indies progressively fell to pieces with the ball and in the field.
Resuming the day on 146, Azhar was solid and assured right from the outset and displayed more of the lovely drives and powerful cuts and pulls that lit up the first day. He went into tea at 194, but got to his milestone within two balls of the resumption of play - a leg-side delivery from Shannon Gabriel was tucked fine for four, after which a wide one was cut past backward point for the four that took him past 200. A salute and a set of nine push-ups followed; by that stage, West Indies' fielders looked too ragged to follow suit. It took Azhar only a further 112 balls to bring up his triple-ton, powering his side towards a declaration that put West Indies out of their misery.
Azhar and Shafiq had added 73 runs to the overnight total of 279 for 1, taking their second-wicket partnership to 137. The pair built on their solid, platform with relative ease, facing little pressure either from West Indies' bowlers or from a pink ball that did not do much in the air. While Shafiq played the odd false shot, Azhar looked compact and sharp, quick to pounce on width and short balls. He greeted Roston Chase with successive lofted shots for four and six, and also played a number of assured sweep shots against both spinners.
The partnership ended when Shafiq drilled a return catch to Devendra Bishoo to depart for 67. That moment of success provided only fleeting relief for West Indies; Azam came in and settled down swiftly to provide capable support to Azhar. He glided his way to a half-century that seemed to come far too easily, before driving in the air straight to cover to give West Indies their second and last breakthrough of the day. Thereafter, Azhar and Misbah threw their bats around. They added 62 off 76 in a partnership that wasn't particularly graceful - with a number of skied miscues - but served Pakistan's purpose. Azhar brought up his triple-century in much the same manner as he had brought up his century, with a drive wide of mid-off for four, and on that jubilant note Pakistan declared.
West Indies had their moments, but were not able to capitalise on them. Bishoo found Azam's outside edge early in his innings, only for the ball to fly to the right of slip. A few overs later, Chase got Azhar to nick to slip, where Jermaine Blackwood spilled a sharp chance that should have been taken.
A more judicious use of reviews would also have helped. Gabriel, who clocked up impressive speeds in the first over of the day, seamed one into Shafiq that clipped the top of his back pad on its way through to the wicketkeeper. The appeal, seemingly for a caught-behind, was turned down, but replays indicated that the ball would have gone on to hit enough of the top of middle for the batsman to be given lbw, if a review had been taken.
The review West Indies did opt for left them red-faced. Jason Holder bowled an indipping low full toss at Azhar, went up in appeal for lbw and reviewed the not-out decision, evidently believing that the ball had brushed pad before bat. Replays, however, showed that the ball had gone nowhere near the pad and had, in fact, been middled.
These errors paled in comparison with West Indies' shoddy bowling and often-farcical fielding. Bishoo and Miguel Cummins released the early pressure that Gabriel and Holder had created. While Bishoo bowled a number of short balls and juicy half-volleys, Cummins repeatedly drifted onto the batsmen's pads. Gabriel bowled a terrible spell after lunch in which he struggled badly for line and length and bowled three big no-balls - and at least another three that were not called.
In the closing stages of the day, Pakistan's bowlers provided a contrast to West Indies' effort. Sohail Khan and Mohammad Amir bowled a fuller length and got good shape on the new ball, while Yasir Shah got more grip and turn than the West Indies spinners had managed at any stage. He was rewarded with the wicket of Leon Johnson, whom he trapped in front for 15. But Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo then provided a reminder of how good the wicket still was, batting out the rest of the session in solid fashion. With a mountain still to climb, West Indies require much more solidity in the days ahead.
Day 3
Pakistan 579/3d
West Indies 315/6 (109.0 ov)
West Indies trail by 264 runs with 4 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Having enjoyed the first two days of their 400th Test, piling on the runs on another Dubai featherbed, Pakistan were made to toil for their gains for much of the third day. Those gains came gradually in the first two sessions, before a hostile spell from Wahab Riaz after dinner helped Pakistan make quick inroads into West Indies' middle order. Darren Bravo's resolute 87 and Marlon Samuels' attacking 76 led the resistance, but Pakistan's bowlers were able to maintain control and ultimately leave West Indies on 315 for 6 by stumps, trailing by 264 runs.
Starting the day on 14, Bravo was content to proceed at a stately pace, exhibiting patience, determination and a very solid defensive game. He brought up his fifty off 176 balls and showed no inclination to accelerate thereafter. His concern was in occupying the crease as long as possible. While he occasionally took his eye off the bouncer and edged a full-blooded cut shot past first slip off Yasir Shah, Bravo's knock was largely chanceless. He provided a fine counterpoint to Samuels and was barely ruffled by the fall of wickets either side of the dinner break. It was only within half an hour of stumps that Bravo's long vigil ended, when debutant Mohammad Nawaz had him caught at short-leg to claim his maiden Test wicket.
Samuels, for his part, was not quite as convincing as Bravo, but played the dominant role in the pair's 113-run third-wicket partnership. Having announced his arrival with consecutive fours off Yasir, he continued to pepper the off-side boundary with excellent cuts and drives. He hit 13 fours in all, the best of which was probably an exquisitely timed on drive after skipping to the pitch of a ball from left-arm spinner Nawaz.
But Samuels' habit of staying leg side of the ball and his general lack of foot movement caused him occasional problems and ultimately led to his downfall. He had an early slice of luck when an outside edge off Mohammad Amir's bowling fell short of Babar Azam at second slip. In the second session, he played a loose drive against Wahab, throwing his hands at the ball, and was lucky the edge did not carry to the wicketkeeper. Eventually Sohail Khan bowled an indipper that wrapped Samuels on the pads in front of middle; he was rooted in the crease and falling over. It was the first wicket by a fast bowler in the Test match.
After the dinner break, bowling with the second new ball, Wahab cracked the game open for Pakistan with a venomous short-ball barrage. Jermaine Blackwood was given an intense working over, before he gloved an attempted pull to Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps. In Wahab's next over, Roston Chase fended a well-directed bouncer to Azam, who had just been moved to leg slip. West Indies were 266 for 5 at this stage and suddenly looked vulnerable once again. The late wicket of Bravo, just after West Indies brought up 300, capped off a good day for Pakistan.
That said, they might have anticipated an easier day when Yasir dismissed Brathwaite in just the second over. He got a flighted delivery to drift into middle stump before turning away slightly to beat the outside edge and hit off stump. While it was a good ball, it was made to look even better by the batsman, who lunged forward and played down the wrong line.
Thereafter, Samuels and Bravo frustrated the bowlers with their third-wicket stand for 43.3 overs. Pakistan's concerns were exacerbated when Nawaz was warned twice for following through in the danger area shortly after tea. They grew even further in the next over when Samuels drilled the ball back at Azhar Ali, who took a blow to his right hand and had to go off for treatment.
But Sohail broke the century stand, Wahab inflicted further damage after dinner, Azhar came back to take up his position at short leg and Nawaz went on to take a crucial late wicket. Pakistan ended up with most boxes ticked.
Day 4
Pakistan 579/3d & 123
West Indies 357 & 95/2 (31.0 ov)
West Indies require another 251 runs with 8 wickets remaining
A 16-wicket day brought the Dubai day-night Test to life as Pakistan's 400th Test swung one way and then the other. After Yasir Shah's three wickets - which brought him a five-wicket haul and his 100th Test scalp - helped Pakistan secure a 222-run first-innings lead, Devendra Bishoo hit back with a career-best 8 for 49 to skittle Pakistan for 123 and leave West Indies with an outside chance of victory.
West Indies lost Kraigg Brathwaite early in their chase of 346, before Leon Johnson and Darren Bravo shared a 60-run stand to lift the team. But Johnson's late dismissal and Marlon Samuels' early struggles against the legspin of Yasir served a reminder that West Indies still had an uphill task on the final day.
Having declined to impose the follow-on, Pakistan chased quick runs and lost two early wickets before tea. Sami Aslam and Babar Azam added 57 off 70 balls after the interval to steady the innings and swiftly build the lead. But Bishoo then benefitted from some ambitious shots, and some good, spinning deliveries to rip through Pakistan, taking seven of the eight wickets that fell either side of the dinner break.
With the score at 77 for 2 and the lead at 299, Azam played a loose cross-batted shot onto his stumps off Bishoo. Aslam played a late cut into the hands of Jermaine Blackwood at first slip and Misbah-ul-Haq was bowled after missing a slog sweep. The left-handed Mohammad Nawaz shouldered arms to his third ball, only to see a fizzing leg break cannon into his off stump. When Wahab Riaz miscued a slog sweep to Brathwaite at deep midwicket, Bishoo had his sixth of the innings. Jason Holder then had Yasir caught and bowled off the last ball before dinner.
Bishoo wrapped up the innings within five balls of the resumption, getting Sarfraz Ahmed stumped, before hitting Mohammad Amir's middle stump, his fourth bowled dismissal of the innings. That capped a collapse of eight wickets for 46 runs. Bishoo's plunder and Pakistan's slump still left West Indies with a daunting target, but they could hardly have dreamed of a better outcome at the start of the day.
Day four had begun much as day three had done - with an early wicket for Yasir. A very full legbreak from Yasir pitched just in line with the stumps and spun in before hitting the batsman's pads. Dowrich had played across the line and missed.
Bishoo and Holder then survived a stern short-ball examination from Amir and Wahab, putting on a 21-run stand that raised West Indies' hopes of extending their resistance. That was not to be - Yasir got through Holder's defences with a tossed-up googly and then bowled Miguel Cummins with a big-spinning leg break that evaded the batsman's wild swipe. That was Yasir's 100th Test wicket, in his 17th match, making him the joint-second fastest bowler to the mark. Nawaz finished the job in the next over. It had taken Pakistan just 14.5 overs to take the remaining four wickets, bowling West Indies out for 357.
West Indies responded by making a couple of breakthroughs before tea. Shannon Gabriel trapped first-innings triple-centurion Azhar Ali in front for 2, a ball after Azhar had successfully reviewed a caught-behind decision. Then Asad Shafiq missed an attempted sweep off Bishoo and, while West Indies' appeal for lbw was turned down, their review was successful.
After tea, Gabriel and Cummins subjected Aslam and Azam to the type of short-ball barrage with which Pakistan had exposed the West Indies batsmen. While Aslam held his own, Azam struggled, showing a tendency to take his eyes off the ball. A Cummins bouncer hurried Azam into a top-edged hook that went high in the air between Gabriel at long leg and Brathwaite at deep-backward square. It was probably Brathwaite's catch, but Gabriel went for it and could not hold on after a full-length dive.
Cummins bounced Azam again in the next over and the batsman half-swayed and half-ducked while leaving his bat in the air. The ball brushed his glove on the way to the wicketkeeper, but Azam survived once again when replays revealed that the bowler had overstepped. Azam eventually got out to Bishoo, precipitating Pakistan's collapse as the legspinner from Guyana went on the rampage. West Indies then moved to 95 for 2 by the close.
While a wicket-filled day brought West Indies back into the match, they will require the balance to shift back in favour of the batsmen if they are to score the 251 more runs needed for victory on a fifth-day Dubai pitch.
Day 5
Pakistan 579/3d & 123
West Indies 357 & 289 (109.0 ov)
Pakistan won by 56 runs
Pakistan's bowlers held their nerve to seize a 56-run win over West Indies after an intense, attritional fifth day in Dubai, in which Darren Bravo led his side's plucky tilt at a come-from-behind victory. Bravo scored a 249-ball 116, taking his side to within 83 runs of the target, before Pakistan finally overcame his dogged resistance to wrest back a match that had looked like slipping away. They wrapped it up with 12 overs remaining, to register a memorable win in their 400th Test.
For much of the final day, Bravo proved to be an immovable object at the centre of the Dubai cricket ground. He carried forward his fine form and doughty resistance from the first innings, showing the application and patience to rebuff whatever Pakistan threw at him. His forward defensive shots, of which there were many, were perfectly middled, and he was equally convincing when leaving the ball. On occasion, he unfurled one of his crisp drives or cuts to the off-side boundary, but his knock was more about grit than flair.
Bravo began the day batting on 26 off 67, with West Indies on 95 for 2, still 251 runs short of their target. After seeing Marlon Samuels depart off the first ball of the day and losing Jermaine Blackwood inside the first hour, Bravo shared a fighting 77-run fifth-wicket stand with Roston Chase and continued his vigil well after Chase departed. As West Indies pursued what would have been their second-highest successful chase, more and more came to depend on Bravo. He shouldered that burden until almost an hour into the final session. But with 83 runs to win and four wickets in hand, he played a tired drive off Yasir Shah, managing only to squirt the ball back towards the bowler, whose sensational diving catch was the last, decisive turn on a gripping final day.
Yet West Indies had made Pakistan work much harder for the win than they would have expected after a promising start to the day. After Pakistan's demoralising collapse on the previous day, Amir's first-ball wicket was just the tonic they needed. It was a rather unremarkable delivery, bowled from around the wicket, pitching on a good length well outside off and angling in. Samuels was drawn into poking at a ball he could easily have left and a thin edge was gleefully accepted by Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps.
Blackwood, coming in at No. 5, played a scratchy knock, fishing at balls outside off, with the bat well away from the body. He got away with numerous plays and misses against Amir, as well as a checked drive off a slower ball that fell between mid-off and mid-on. But it was to spin that he perished, when he played a length ball from Mohammad Nawaz from deep in his crease and was wrapped on the pads in front of leg stump.
Chase then joined Bravo for a partnership that steadily revived West Indies and unsettled Pakistan over the course of 28.2 overs of stubborn fight. Wahab and Sohail Khan tested the batsmen with occasional bouncers and yorkers, Amir bowled probing lines, the spinners plugged away - but Bravo and Chase looked untroubled through it all.
By the 71st over, Chase's confidence had grown to the extent that he dared to drive Yasir against the turn for a boundary through midwicket. Perhaps that was when confidence became overconfidence. Next ball, Yasir flighted another one pitching outside leg and Chase attempted the same shot again. This time the ball turned past his outside edge to crash into leg stump.
Two balls later, Wahab yorked Shane Dowrich to hit his middle and off stumps, sending him back for a first-ball duck. West Indies were now reeling at 194 for 6, and Pakistan had a firm grip on proceedings again.
But Bravo was still at the crease and he had his captain, Jason Holder, for company. The two men saw the side through to dinner, leaving 114 to win in the final session. They continued to chip away at the target after the resumption, and Pakistan's anxiety gradually built. When Amir wrapped Holder on the front pad with a delivery that appeared to be sliding down, Pakistan's review of the not-out decision seemed more out of desperation than expectation. Hawk-Eye gave them no respite.
Another hopeful review followed when Yasir's appeal for a catch at slip was turned down. The ball had gone off Holder's pad. Pakistan had no reviews remaining. West Indies were 84 runs from victory. The tension was mounting.
Two balls later, Yasir flew to his left to take the return catch of Bravo that decisively swung the match in Pakistan's favour. West Indies' last three wickets added 26 runs, but the sting had gone out of the contest, and a pair of run-outs handed Pakistan a hard-fought win.
West Indies 69/1 (22.0 ov)
West Indies trail by 510 runs with 9 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Confronted with bowling that was toothless at best and ragged at worst, Azhar Ali marched to 302 not out, becoming the fourth Pakistan player to score a Test triple hundred. Azhar's marathon 469-ball knock anchored Pakistan's first-innings total of 579 for 3 declared, before West Indies moved to 69 for 1 in the 22 overs they had to face till stumps.
After having shared a 215-run opening stand with Sami Aslam on the first day, Azhar was well supported on the second day too, first by Asad Shafiq and then by debutant Babar Azam, before Misbah-ul-Haq played an attacking cameo leading into the declaration. Pakistan scored at well over 4 runs an over on day two, adding 300 runs in 65.3 overs as West Indies progressively fell to pieces with the ball and in the field.
Resuming the day on 146, Azhar was solid and assured right from the outset and displayed more of the lovely drives and powerful cuts and pulls that lit up the first day. He went into tea at 194, but got to his milestone within two balls of the resumption of play - a leg-side delivery from Shannon Gabriel was tucked fine for four, after which a wide one was cut past backward point for the four that took him past 200. A salute and a set of nine push-ups followed; by that stage, West Indies' fielders looked too ragged to follow suit. It took Azhar only a further 112 balls to bring up his triple-ton, powering his side towards a declaration that put West Indies out of their misery.
Azhar and Shafiq had added 73 runs to the overnight total of 279 for 1, taking their second-wicket partnership to 137. The pair built on their solid, platform with relative ease, facing little pressure either from West Indies' bowlers or from a pink ball that did not do much in the air. While Shafiq played the odd false shot, Azhar looked compact and sharp, quick to pounce on width and short balls. He greeted Roston Chase with successive lofted shots for four and six, and also played a number of assured sweep shots against both spinners.
The partnership ended when Shafiq drilled a return catch to Devendra Bishoo to depart for 67. That moment of success provided only fleeting relief for West Indies; Azam came in and settled down swiftly to provide capable support to Azhar. He glided his way to a half-century that seemed to come far too easily, before driving in the air straight to cover to give West Indies their second and last breakthrough of the day. Thereafter, Azhar and Misbah threw their bats around. They added 62 off 76 in a partnership that wasn't particularly graceful - with a number of skied miscues - but served Pakistan's purpose. Azhar brought up his triple-century in much the same manner as he had brought up his century, with a drive wide of mid-off for four, and on that jubilant note Pakistan declared.
West Indies had their moments, but were not able to capitalise on them. Bishoo found Azam's outside edge early in his innings, only for the ball to fly to the right of slip. A few overs later, Chase got Azhar to nick to slip, where Jermaine Blackwood spilled a sharp chance that should have been taken.
A more judicious use of reviews would also have helped. Gabriel, who clocked up impressive speeds in the first over of the day, seamed one into Shafiq that clipped the top of his back pad on its way through to the wicketkeeper. The appeal, seemingly for a caught-behind, was turned down, but replays indicated that the ball would have gone on to hit enough of the top of middle for the batsman to be given lbw, if a review had been taken.
The review West Indies did opt for left them red-faced. Jason Holder bowled an indipping low full toss at Azhar, went up in appeal for lbw and reviewed the not-out decision, evidently believing that the ball had brushed pad before bat. Replays, however, showed that the ball had gone nowhere near the pad and had, in fact, been middled.
These errors paled in comparison with West Indies' shoddy bowling and often-farcical fielding. Bishoo and Miguel Cummins released the early pressure that Gabriel and Holder had created. While Bishoo bowled a number of short balls and juicy half-volleys, Cummins repeatedly drifted onto the batsmen's pads. Gabriel bowled a terrible spell after lunch in which he struggled badly for line and length and bowled three big no-balls - and at least another three that were not called.
In the closing stages of the day, Pakistan's bowlers provided a contrast to West Indies' effort. Sohail Khan and Mohammad Amir bowled a fuller length and got good shape on the new ball, while Yasir Shah got more grip and turn than the West Indies spinners had managed at any stage. He was rewarded with the wicket of Leon Johnson, whom he trapped in front for 15. But Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo then provided a reminder of how good the wicket still was, batting out the rest of the session in solid fashion. With a mountain still to climb, West Indies require much more solidity in the days ahead.
Day 3
Pakistan 579/3d
West Indies 315/6 (109.0 ov)
West Indies trail by 264 runs with 4 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Having enjoyed the first two days of their 400th Test, piling on the runs on another Dubai featherbed, Pakistan were made to toil for their gains for much of the third day. Those gains came gradually in the first two sessions, before a hostile spell from Wahab Riaz after dinner helped Pakistan make quick inroads into West Indies' middle order. Darren Bravo's resolute 87 and Marlon Samuels' attacking 76 led the resistance, but Pakistan's bowlers were able to maintain control and ultimately leave West Indies on 315 for 6 by stumps, trailing by 264 runs.
Starting the day on 14, Bravo was content to proceed at a stately pace, exhibiting patience, determination and a very solid defensive game. He brought up his fifty off 176 balls and showed no inclination to accelerate thereafter. His concern was in occupying the crease as long as possible. While he occasionally took his eye off the bouncer and edged a full-blooded cut shot past first slip off Yasir Shah, Bravo's knock was largely chanceless. He provided a fine counterpoint to Samuels and was barely ruffled by the fall of wickets either side of the dinner break. It was only within half an hour of stumps that Bravo's long vigil ended, when debutant Mohammad Nawaz had him caught at short-leg to claim his maiden Test wicket.
Samuels, for his part, was not quite as convincing as Bravo, but played the dominant role in the pair's 113-run third-wicket partnership. Having announced his arrival with consecutive fours off Yasir, he continued to pepper the off-side boundary with excellent cuts and drives. He hit 13 fours in all, the best of which was probably an exquisitely timed on drive after skipping to the pitch of a ball from left-arm spinner Nawaz.
But Samuels' habit of staying leg side of the ball and his general lack of foot movement caused him occasional problems and ultimately led to his downfall. He had an early slice of luck when an outside edge off Mohammad Amir's bowling fell short of Babar Azam at second slip. In the second session, he played a loose drive against Wahab, throwing his hands at the ball, and was lucky the edge did not carry to the wicketkeeper. Eventually Sohail Khan bowled an indipper that wrapped Samuels on the pads in front of middle; he was rooted in the crease and falling over. It was the first wicket by a fast bowler in the Test match.
After the dinner break, bowling with the second new ball, Wahab cracked the game open for Pakistan with a venomous short-ball barrage. Jermaine Blackwood was given an intense working over, before he gloved an attempted pull to Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps. In Wahab's next over, Roston Chase fended a well-directed bouncer to Azam, who had just been moved to leg slip. West Indies were 266 for 5 at this stage and suddenly looked vulnerable once again. The late wicket of Bravo, just after West Indies brought up 300, capped off a good day for Pakistan.
That said, they might have anticipated an easier day when Yasir dismissed Brathwaite in just the second over. He got a flighted delivery to drift into middle stump before turning away slightly to beat the outside edge and hit off stump. While it was a good ball, it was made to look even better by the batsman, who lunged forward and played down the wrong line.
Thereafter, Samuels and Bravo frustrated the bowlers with their third-wicket stand for 43.3 overs. Pakistan's concerns were exacerbated when Nawaz was warned twice for following through in the danger area shortly after tea. They grew even further in the next over when Samuels drilled the ball back at Azhar Ali, who took a blow to his right hand and had to go off for treatment.
But Sohail broke the century stand, Wahab inflicted further damage after dinner, Azhar came back to take up his position at short leg and Nawaz went on to take a crucial late wicket. Pakistan ended up with most boxes ticked.
Day 4
Pakistan 579/3d & 123
West Indies 357 & 95/2 (31.0 ov)
West Indies require another 251 runs with 8 wickets remaining
A 16-wicket day brought the Dubai day-night Test to life as Pakistan's 400th Test swung one way and then the other. After Yasir Shah's three wickets - which brought him a five-wicket haul and his 100th Test scalp - helped Pakistan secure a 222-run first-innings lead, Devendra Bishoo hit back with a career-best 8 for 49 to skittle Pakistan for 123 and leave West Indies with an outside chance of victory.
West Indies lost Kraigg Brathwaite early in their chase of 346, before Leon Johnson and Darren Bravo shared a 60-run stand to lift the team. But Johnson's late dismissal and Marlon Samuels' early struggles against the legspin of Yasir served a reminder that West Indies still had an uphill task on the final day.
Having declined to impose the follow-on, Pakistan chased quick runs and lost two early wickets before tea. Sami Aslam and Babar Azam added 57 off 70 balls after the interval to steady the innings and swiftly build the lead. But Bishoo then benefitted from some ambitious shots, and some good, spinning deliveries to rip through Pakistan, taking seven of the eight wickets that fell either side of the dinner break.
With the score at 77 for 2 and the lead at 299, Azam played a loose cross-batted shot onto his stumps off Bishoo. Aslam played a late cut into the hands of Jermaine Blackwood at first slip and Misbah-ul-Haq was bowled after missing a slog sweep. The left-handed Mohammad Nawaz shouldered arms to his third ball, only to see a fizzing leg break cannon into his off stump. When Wahab Riaz miscued a slog sweep to Brathwaite at deep midwicket, Bishoo had his sixth of the innings. Jason Holder then had Yasir caught and bowled off the last ball before dinner.
Bishoo wrapped up the innings within five balls of the resumption, getting Sarfraz Ahmed stumped, before hitting Mohammad Amir's middle stump, his fourth bowled dismissal of the innings. That capped a collapse of eight wickets for 46 runs. Bishoo's plunder and Pakistan's slump still left West Indies with a daunting target, but they could hardly have dreamed of a better outcome at the start of the day.
Day four had begun much as day three had done - with an early wicket for Yasir. A very full legbreak from Yasir pitched just in line with the stumps and spun in before hitting the batsman's pads. Dowrich had played across the line and missed.
Bishoo and Holder then survived a stern short-ball examination from Amir and Wahab, putting on a 21-run stand that raised West Indies' hopes of extending their resistance. That was not to be - Yasir got through Holder's defences with a tossed-up googly and then bowled Miguel Cummins with a big-spinning leg break that evaded the batsman's wild swipe. That was Yasir's 100th Test wicket, in his 17th match, making him the joint-second fastest bowler to the mark. Nawaz finished the job in the next over. It had taken Pakistan just 14.5 overs to take the remaining four wickets, bowling West Indies out for 357.
West Indies responded by making a couple of breakthroughs before tea. Shannon Gabriel trapped first-innings triple-centurion Azhar Ali in front for 2, a ball after Azhar had successfully reviewed a caught-behind decision. Then Asad Shafiq missed an attempted sweep off Bishoo and, while West Indies' appeal for lbw was turned down, their review was successful.
After tea, Gabriel and Cummins subjected Aslam and Azam to the type of short-ball barrage with which Pakistan had exposed the West Indies batsmen. While Aslam held his own, Azam struggled, showing a tendency to take his eyes off the ball. A Cummins bouncer hurried Azam into a top-edged hook that went high in the air between Gabriel at long leg and Brathwaite at deep-backward square. It was probably Brathwaite's catch, but Gabriel went for it and could not hold on after a full-length dive.
Cummins bounced Azam again in the next over and the batsman half-swayed and half-ducked while leaving his bat in the air. The ball brushed his glove on the way to the wicketkeeper, but Azam survived once again when replays revealed that the bowler had overstepped. Azam eventually got out to Bishoo, precipitating Pakistan's collapse as the legspinner from Guyana went on the rampage. West Indies then moved to 95 for 2 by the close.
While a wicket-filled day brought West Indies back into the match, they will require the balance to shift back in favour of the batsmen if they are to score the 251 more runs needed for victory on a fifth-day Dubai pitch.
Day 5
Pakistan 579/3d & 123
West Indies 357 & 289 (109.0 ov)
Pakistan won by 56 runs
Pakistan's bowlers held their nerve to seize a 56-run win over West Indies after an intense, attritional fifth day in Dubai, in which Darren Bravo led his side's plucky tilt at a come-from-behind victory. Bravo scored a 249-ball 116, taking his side to within 83 runs of the target, before Pakistan finally overcame his dogged resistance to wrest back a match that had looked like slipping away. They wrapped it up with 12 overs remaining, to register a memorable win in their 400th Test.
For much of the final day, Bravo proved to be an immovable object at the centre of the Dubai cricket ground. He carried forward his fine form and doughty resistance from the first innings, showing the application and patience to rebuff whatever Pakistan threw at him. His forward defensive shots, of which there were many, were perfectly middled, and he was equally convincing when leaving the ball. On occasion, he unfurled one of his crisp drives or cuts to the off-side boundary, but his knock was more about grit than flair.
Bravo began the day batting on 26 off 67, with West Indies on 95 for 2, still 251 runs short of their target. After seeing Marlon Samuels depart off the first ball of the day and losing Jermaine Blackwood inside the first hour, Bravo shared a fighting 77-run fifth-wicket stand with Roston Chase and continued his vigil well after Chase departed. As West Indies pursued what would have been their second-highest successful chase, more and more came to depend on Bravo. He shouldered that burden until almost an hour into the final session. But with 83 runs to win and four wickets in hand, he played a tired drive off Yasir Shah, managing only to squirt the ball back towards the bowler, whose sensational diving catch was the last, decisive turn on a gripping final day.
Yet West Indies had made Pakistan work much harder for the win than they would have expected after a promising start to the day. After Pakistan's demoralising collapse on the previous day, Amir's first-ball wicket was just the tonic they needed. It was a rather unremarkable delivery, bowled from around the wicket, pitching on a good length well outside off and angling in. Samuels was drawn into poking at a ball he could easily have left and a thin edge was gleefully accepted by Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps.
Blackwood, coming in at No. 5, played a scratchy knock, fishing at balls outside off, with the bat well away from the body. He got away with numerous plays and misses against Amir, as well as a checked drive off a slower ball that fell between mid-off and mid-on. But it was to spin that he perished, when he played a length ball from Mohammad Nawaz from deep in his crease and was wrapped on the pads in front of leg stump.
Chase then joined Bravo for a partnership that steadily revived West Indies and unsettled Pakistan over the course of 28.2 overs of stubborn fight. Wahab and Sohail Khan tested the batsmen with occasional bouncers and yorkers, Amir bowled probing lines, the spinners plugged away - but Bravo and Chase looked untroubled through it all.
By the 71st over, Chase's confidence had grown to the extent that he dared to drive Yasir against the turn for a boundary through midwicket. Perhaps that was when confidence became overconfidence. Next ball, Yasir flighted another one pitching outside leg and Chase attempted the same shot again. This time the ball turned past his outside edge to crash into leg stump.
Two balls later, Wahab yorked Shane Dowrich to hit his middle and off stumps, sending him back for a first-ball duck. West Indies were now reeling at 194 for 6, and Pakistan had a firm grip on proceedings again.
But Bravo was still at the crease and he had his captain, Jason Holder, for company. The two men saw the side through to dinner, leaving 114 to win in the final session. They continued to chip away at the target after the resumption, and Pakistan's anxiety gradually built. When Amir wrapped Holder on the front pad with a delivery that appeared to be sliding down, Pakistan's review of the not-out decision seemed more out of desperation than expectation. Hawk-Eye gave them no respite.
Another hopeful review followed when Yasir's appeal for a catch at slip was turned down. The ball had gone off Holder's pad. Pakistan had no reviews remaining. West Indies were 84 runs from victory. The tension was mounting.
Two balls later, Yasir flew to his left to take the return catch of Bravo that decisively swung the match in Pakistan's favour. West Indies' last three wickets added 26 runs, but the sting had gone out of the contest, and a pair of run-outs handed Pakistan a hard-fought win.
2nd Test
Day 1
Pakistan 304/4 (84.0 ov)
West Indies
Younis Khan's 33rd Test hundred gave Pakistan the ideal first-day platform in the second Test against West Indies, lifting them from an uneasy 42 for 2 to a commanding 304 for 4 at stumps. Returning to the side after missing the day-night Test in Dubai to recover from a bout of dengue fever, Younis looked like he had never been away. He added 87 with Asad Shafiq for the third wicket, and 175 for the fourth with Misbah-ul-Haq, as Pakistan ground down a limited West Indies attack in typically benign first-day conditions in Abu Dhabi.
Younis made 127 before he fell in the 84th over of the day, slog-sweeping Kraigg Brathwaite's part-time offspin to deep midwicket. It turned out to be the last ball of the day, with the umpires ruling that the light had faded too much to continue just as the nightwatchman Yasir Shah walked in to the middle. Misbah, who already has five hundreds in Abu Dhabi and averaged 99.77 at the ground before this innings, went to stumps batting on 90.
West Indies' bowlers endured a long and largely thankless day on the field, made worse by two costly misses. In the last over before tea, Kraigg Brathwaite failed to hold on to a return catch off a firmly-hit flat-bat drive when Younis was on 83. Then, batting on 54 in the eleventh over after tea, Misbah nicked a ball from Shannon Gabriel that straightened in the corridor. Wicketkeeper Shai Hope, having initially moved in the wrong direction, dived low to his right behind the stumps, and the ball bounced out of his right glove.
Gabriel bowled impressively in patches, picking up two wickets and generating reverse-swing with the old ball, but the rest of West Indies' bowling didn't make much of an impact. Miguel Cummins and Jason Holder made up somewhat for their lack of incision by conceding less than three runs an over, but the spinners were neither threatening nor economical. Among them, Devendra Bishoo, Roston Chase and Brathwaite conceded 181 runs at an economy rate of 4.41.
Having chosen to bat first, Pakistan lost their first wicket in the fifth over of the morning, Azhar Ali playing on while looking to drive Gabriel through the covers, the ball nipping in a little and not quite coming on to the bat. Walking in at No. 3, Shafiq got going almost immediately, rising to his toes to cut Gabriel for four off the second ball he faced. In the next over, he punished another short ball, this time swivelling to pull Miguel Cummins through square leg.
Shafiq continued to play his shots, moving confidently forward to ease drives through the covers and nimbly back to cut and pull deliveries from Bishoo that were only marginally short. As he sparkled at one end, Sami Aslam played a strange innings at the other. He seldom got the strike, and barely scored any runs when he did, while not looking particularly troubled by any of West Indies' bowlers. By the end of the 13th over, he was batting on 6 off 28 balls and Shafiq on 32 off 44. Then, off the second ball of the 14th over, he looked to drive Bishoo through the covers, against the turn, and was bowled through the gate by a dipping legbreak.
In walked Younis, back in the side after missing the first Test to recover from a bout of dengue fever. He got an early freebie from Bishoo, wide and overpitched, to smear through the covers, but that was his only boundary in the 62 balls he faced before lunch, as West Indies tightened their lines and lengths. There was little in the conditions to challenge either batsman, and Younis moved safely to 29 without always looking at ease.
His shuffle across the crease caused him a couple of uneasy moments: Cummins found his leading edge while he tried to work through the leg side, and Jason Holder got him to nick the ball when he moved across rather than forward, towards the ball in defence, but both balls fell safely short of fielders.
Soon after lunch, Younis nearly played on to Cummins; defending firmly into the pitch, he had to stretch his left foot out to kick the ball away as it rolled back towards the stumps. But he grew increasingly comfortable at the crease after that, and took heavy toll of the spinners, pouncing on anything cuttable, and driving through the covers with and against the turn, the pick of his shots an inside-out loft over extra-cover off Chase's offspin.
Shafiq fell in the ninth over after lunch, chopping on while trying to force Gabriel through the covers off the back foot. Gabriel was reversing the ball both ways in this spell, and beat both of Misbah's edges soon after he came to the crease, but Holder took him off after a spell of only three overs. The longest spell Gabriel bowled all day lasted four overs.
With West Indies' main threat out of the way, Misbah began enjoying himself, greeting Bishoo's reintroduction by pulling his third ball, a rank long-hop, over midwicket for four, and then, three balls later, launching a flighted ball high over the long-on boundary. Younis and Misbah took 40 runs off Bishoo's eight-over spell before tea, shutting the door in West Indies' faces right after Gabriel had opened it a crack with the wicket of Shafiq. Misbah only hit six boundaries in his innings: four of them came off Bishoo, of whom he took 37 runs in 40 balls.
Post-tea, West Indies went into defensive mode, getting Cummins to bowl wide outside off stump with a packed off-side field. But the tactic didn't really stem Pakistan's run flow; there was no movement available to him, and plenty of large spaces in the vast outfield for Misbah and Younis to push the ball into for twos. After four overs, Cummins gave way to Gabriel; he found Misbah's edge in his second over, and Hope - playing this Test match because Shane Dowrich pulled up injured in training - put the chance down. Pakistan were 242 for 3 at that stage, and 242 for 4 may just have rattled them given they were playing five bowlers. Instead, Misbah and Younis added a further 62.
Day 2
Pakistan 452
West Indies 106/4 (45.0 ov)
West Indies trail by 346 runs with 6 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Through most of the second day, West Indies fought to keep Pakistan from assuming an impregnable position in the Abu Dhabi Test. Shannon Gabriel's maiden five-wicket haul helped bowl Pakistan out for 452, and West Indies seemed to be in a fairly manageable position heading to stumps, but two wickets in the last two overs of the day sent them spiralling back to square one. At stumps, West Indies were four down and trailing by 346 runs, with Yasir Shah beginning to cause all manner of problems, ripping the ball out of the rough from around the wicket.
Leon Johnson and Dwayne Bravo, opening because Kraigg Brathwaite had to make up for time spent off the field during Pakistan's innings, looked comfortable at the start of the West Indies innings, with the conditions offering little help for either the seamers or the spinners. Then, in the third over after tea, Rahat Ali produced reverse-swing with a 13-over-old ball to get Johnson lbw, beating his inside edge as he looked to work the ball into the leg side. Rahat then nearly had Brathwaite third ball, finding his outside edge as he poked uncertainly with no footwork at a length ball swinging away from him, but the ball fell just short of the wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed.
Rahat and Sohail Khan continued to reverse the ball, though not extravagantly, and Bravo was untroubled by both of them as he drove with authority off both feet. It took until the 23rd over for Misbah-ul-Haq to turn to his legspinner, and Yasir struck at the start of his fourth over, straightening one from a middle-stump line to beat Bravo's risky front-foot pull and strike his front pad. Michael Gough turned down Yasir's appeal, but Pakistan's review showed there was no inside-edge and that the ball pitched in line, and indicated it would have gone on to hit middle and leg stumps.
Marlon Samuels nearly went first ball, an inside-edge saving him, on review, after Gough had given him out lbw. Samuels' front-and-across trigger movement continued to cause him problems early in his innings against the spinners, but having survived that period, he began to play his shots. He took three fours off one Yasir over, moving back to slap him twice through the cover-point region and stepping forward in between to drive through mid-off.
But he never really looked settled, and Rahat, in the penultimate over of the day, got the ball to reverse away from just short of a good length. Staying leg-side of the ball and not covering its line, Samuels poked at it and edged to slip. Then, Brathwaite pushed Yasir into the covers and called for one. Devendra Bishoo, the nightwatchman, sent him back when he was already halfway down the pitch, and two set batsmen had disappeared had disappeared in a flash.
Pakistan were 304 for 4 overnight, and had gone past 500 in their last three first innings at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, but Gabriel and Jason Holder prevented them from doing so again. They took two early wickets in the morning session, and then, after a 70-run seventh-wicket stand between Sarfraz and Mohammad Nawaz, picked up the last four wickets in the space of 9.2 overs.
The lower-order slump began in the second over after lunch, when Gabriel speared a reverse-swinging 152kph full toss between Sarfraz's bat and pad and hit the base of off stump. Sarfraz had just stroked him for two fours in four balls and moved past the half-century mark.
Another full, reverse-swinging delivery sent Nawaz back for 25 when he played across a Holder yorker from around the wicket. Sohail responded by hitting three fours in one Gabriel over, barely moving his feet but timing his shots crisply. He couldn't quite middle an attempted pull off Holder, however, and fell to a catch at midwicket.
A successful lbw review from Sohail had kept Gabriel waiting for his fifth wicket, but he didn't have to wait too long before Zulfiqar, failing to get fully forward to drive, sent a thin edge through to wicketkeeper Shai Hope.
West Indies took the second new ball at the start of the day's play, and Gabriel struck in the fifth over of the morning. The last six times Misbah had resumed his innings overnight before this, he had added no runs to his score four times. Today he added six runs to his overnight 90 before Gabriel got one to seam back a touch and go past his inside edge as he looked to work the ball into the leg side. Misbah reviewed Gough's decision to give him out, and had to walk back when ball-tracking returned an "umpire's call" judgement on whether the ball would have gone on to strike leg stump or not.
Yasir, who walked in as nightwatchman on the first evening but didn't get to face a single ball, played some pleasing shots in reaching 23 - his three fours including a straight drive and a wristy pull, both off Holder - before pulling one straight to square leg.
Pakistan were in danger of losing some of the ground they had gained on day one, but in Sarfraz they had just the right batsman for the situation, with the ability to score quickly and put the bowling team back on the back foot. Moving around the crease and often out of it to disrupt the bowlers' lines and lengths, he began finding the gaps and rotating the strike as soon as he walked in, usually with nimble flicks and deflections into the leg side.
Sarfraz didn't hit any boundaries in his first 25 balls, but then hit two in two balls when Miguel Cummins tried to peg him back with the short ball, pulling him through square leg before helping him over the slips. Those were the last two balls of pace in the session. Spinners Devendra Bishoo and Roston Chase bowled the last 10 overs before lunch, and Pakistan comfortably milked 43 runs off them.
Nawaz, who made a duck in his only innings on his debut Test in Dubai, waited ten balls to get off the mark here, but didn't show any urgency or nerves while doing so. The introduction of the spinners freed him up to an extent, and he brought up his first Test boundary in the fifth over before lunch with a rasping square cut off Chase. It remained the only boundary in his 71-ball 25.
Day 3
Pakistan 452 & 114/1 (39.0 ov)
West Indies 224
Pakistan lead by 342 runs with 9 wickets remaining
Yasir Shah's four wickets led Pakistan's slow but clinical strangulation of West Indies, before their top three stretched a 228-run first-innings lead to 342, leaving Pakistan in a dominant position in the Abu Dhabi Test by stumps on the third day. While Sami Aslam and Azhar Ali did not go out of their way to score quickly, the ease with which they milked the bowling contrasted with West Indies' struggles in the first two sessions of the day.
Aslam departed for 50 late in the day, when third umpire Paul Reiffel made the dubious decision to overturn a not-out decision on a caught-behind appeal. Shannon Gabriel had angled the ball into Aslam's pads and West Indies believed he got a faint edge as it went down leg to the wicketkeeper. DRS provided only slow-motion replays and the evidence to overturn looked scant, but it was enough to convince Reiffel.
That ended a 93-run opening partnership that had steadily taken the match further and further from West Indies' reach. Asad Shafiq joined Azhar to take Pakistan to 114 for 1 by the close, a position that looked nigh on impregnable with two days left in the match.
It was an indictment of the ineffectiveness of West Indies' frontline bowlers that Kraigg Brathwaite, bowling first-change, was the only one who came close to taking a wicket in the first two hours of the innings. In the tenth over, Brathwaite fired in a delivery at 95 kph to beat Azhar's sweep and induce umpire Michael Gough to raise his finger. But Azhar reviewed immediately and replays indicated the ball had brushed the batsman's glove. In Brathwaite's next over, another fired-in delivery thudded into the pads, but not before Sami Aslam had got an inside edge. Umpire Gough raised his finger and West Indies' hopes, only for Aslam to review successfully.
In the 18th over, Brathwaite was denied yet again, this time by his team-mate. Azhar edged a cut to Jermaine Blackwood at first slip, but the fielder did not even manage to a get a hand on it. He moved to his right, the ball struck his left thigh and a clear chance went down. It was ultimately Gabriel who made the breakthrough, but only after Pakistan's lead had swelled beyond 300.
Sami Aslam's fifty helped Pakistan build on their 228-run first-innings lead © Getty Images
Having lost two wickets in the last seven balls on the previous day, West Indies began the third day well behind the game, trailing by 346 in the first innings with four wickets down. Nightwatchman Bishoo might understandably have been carrying a few scars from the second evening, having been involved - and arguably culpable - in the run-out of Kraigg Brathwaite in the last over of the day. But he shrugged all of that off to occupy the crease for a gutsy 66-ball knock that, while not always convincing, helped West Indies repel many of Pakistan's early efforts.
Bishoo's overnight partner, Blackwood, departed about half an hour into the session with only 15 runs having been added to the overnight score of 106 for 4. Blackwood took a couple of steps down the track, before playing a loose, half-hearted drive to a Rahat delivery moving away from him; Sarfraz Ahmed collected a good, low catch to his right.
Bishoo struggled against Rahat's outswing, repeatedly playing and missing outside off stump with no footwork. He got off the mark in his 20th ball with a cross-batted swipe through midwicket off Yasir. His first boundary came off his 50th ball with a similar shot, this time off Zulfiqar Babar. By that stage, Bishoo's stubborn knock was vexing Pakistan. In Babar's next over, the bowler went up for a big lbw appeal after Bishoo missed a sweep; Pakistan reviewed the not-out decision, only to find that the impact was just outside off. That exhausted Pakistan's reviews.
But Bishoo did not last too much longer. He had his off stump floored by Sohail who angled the ball away from the left-hander to beat his outside edge and give Pakistan their second wicket of the morning. Roston Chase and Shai Hope then added 7 off the 49 balls leading into lunch, and added a further 18 after lunch before both fell to Yasir in the space of three overs.
Yasir struck in the first delivery with the second new ball, finding the outside edge of an extravagant drive from Chase with Shafiq completing a sharp catch at second slip. In his next over, Yasir bowled Hope when the batsman missed an attempted pull off a short ball that kept low.
He could have had a third when Jason Holder played an inside-out drive in the air to long-off, where Mohammad Nawaz dropped the catch. Instead, it was Sohail who broke the 19-run ninth-wicket partnership, when he angled a ball across Miguel Cummins to beat the bat and hit off stump, much as he had done to Bishoo earlier in the day. Holder and Gabriel then chipped in with a few lusty blows, before Gabriel holed out to mid-on as West Indies were bowled out for 224.
West Indies had added 118 for 6 over the course of 49.4 overs of attritional cricket, till they were bowled out at the stroke of tea. Pakistan's solid start in their second innings left West Indies in need of a far better effort when they bat again.
Day 4
Pakistan 452 & 227/2d
West Indies 224 & 171/4 (62.0 ov)
West Indies require another 285 runs with 6 wickets remaining
Declaring at lunch to give themselves five sessions to bowl West Indies out, Pakistan took emphatic strides towards an unassailable 2-0 lead, picking up four wickets even as their bowlers derived little help from a still placid Abu Dhabi pitch. Chasing 456, West Indies were 171 for 4 at stumps, with only one of the four wickets coming off a wicket-taking ball. Their hopes weren't entirely extinguished, though, with Roston Chase and Jermaine Blackwood seeing them through to stumps with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 47 in 17.2 overs. This was the pair that was together at the start of the fifth day when West Indies saved the Jamaica Test against India in August.
The amount of time Pakistan gave themselves to take ten wickets indicated that they expected plenty of hard toil in excellent batting conditions. There was no swing available to the new-ball pair of Rahat Ali and Sohail Khan, and it took Misbah-ul-Haq only six overs to turn to spin from both ends.
There was not much help on offer for the spinners either, but Yasir Shah did not have to wait too long for his first wicket. Having faced only three balls from the legspinner, Leon Johnson tried to sweep him, and ended up dragging the ball onto his stumps, off the flap of his pad. The ball pitched outside leg stump, so Johnson may have felt the shot was on, but he was probably playing the shot Yasir wanted him to play, given all the fielders waiting around the bat for a top-edge or a bat-pad.
The same was the case when Darren Bravo chased away from his body to try and cut Rahat, back for a second spell, in the 19th over, while making no attempt to keep the ball down. He middled the ball, and it may well have rocketed to the boundary had he placed it a few feet either side of the fielder at point, but the choice of shot played right into Pakistan's hands.
Usually so selective with his attacking strokes, Kraigg Brathwaite also came out looking to go after the bowling. Early on, he drove Sohail on the up through cover point, and later he stepped out to Zulfiqar Babar and launched him for a six over long-on and slogged him, against the turn, for a four through midwicket. The wicket of Bravo, however, forced him into a change of approach: having made 41 off 54 balls till that point, he made 26 off his next 78 balls, before falling in the 14th over after tea. Mohammad Nawaz, unused until the 41st over of the innings, struck in his third over, getting the ball to skid on to beat Brathwaite's attempt to work him into the leg side off the back foot.
By then, Marlon Samuels had also departed to an aggressive shot, stepping out to Yasir, looking to drive him against the turn, and ending up scooping back a return catch. Samuels had scored 23 off 61, looking secure enough while defending and making a conscious effort to get behind the line while defending off the back foot. But ever so often he got himself in trouble by taking a risk - slashing and missing against Sohail, hitting over the top against Zulfiqar.
Blackwood's approach at the crease was much like that of Samuels, and he lived on the edge to reach 41 by stumps. He was lucky to survive when he went for a big hit against Yasir in the last over of the day and ended up skewing the ball in the air but into a vacant part of the covers. Chase, at the other end, was calmer and more secure, only troubled when Yasir got the odd ball to rip past his defensive bat.
With Pakistan already 342 ahead at the start of the day, West Indies had set defensive fields against Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq, hoping to limit the damage the batsmen could inflict upon them. In their desire to plug the boundaries, West Indies allowed a steady stream of easy singles; Shafiq and Azhar added 50 in the first 69 balls of the day, despite hitting only three fours in that time. Then Azhar, chasing away from his body, nicked to wide slip, falling for 79 and giving Miguel Cummins his first wicket of the match.
By then, Pakistan's lead was nearly 400. The declaration was to come very soon, but Pakistan gave few clues, with runs coming at a reasonable clip without the batsmen really forcing the pace. Shafiq hit a couple of gorgeous shots as he approached his fifty, whipping Jason Holder between midwicket and mid-on, and then getting to the landmark with a deft late-cut off Roston Chase. At the other end, Younis Khan punched Holder past his left hand and all the way to the straight boundary. By the time Pakistan declared, the two had put on 63 at 3.81 runs per over while barely breaking a sweat.
Day 5
Pakistan 452 & 227/2d
West Indies 224 & 322
Pakistan won by 133 runs
Bowling nearly unchanged from the start of the day's play, Yasir Shah produced a legspin masterclass on a flat, slow fifth-day pitch to bowl Pakistan to a 133-run win in Abu Dhabi. There was no alarming turn available to Yasir, and hardly any instances of uncertain bounce; he had to draw on all his stamina, skill and intelligence to pick up his eighth five-wicket haul and second ten-wicket match haul in 18 Tests. Yasir bowled 21 of Pakistan's 46 overs on day five as they bowled West Indies out for 322, chasing an improbable 456, an hour and 15 minutes after lunch.
Yasir took all three wickets that fell in the morning session, teasing out Roston Chase in the tenth over of the morning and using the second new ball to dismiss Jermaine Blackwood, who fell five short of a hundred, and Jason Holder. Shai Hope and Devendra Bishoo made Pakistan wait with an eighth-wicket stand of 45, before Yasir and Zulfiqar Babar took out the last three wickets in the space of four overs.
West Indies began the fifth day with Blackwood and Chase at the crease. The pair had been the overnight batsmen when they drew the Jamaica Test against India in August. It took until the tenth over of the day for Yasir to break their partnership, which added 63 runs in 26.4 overs.
Chase only scored 20, but served a vital function by resisting Yasir, facing 54 of the 80 balls he delivered during the course of the stand. Unlike his team-mates, he seldom wavered from the path of defence, except on the rare occasion when Yasir lost his length, such as when he pulled him for four late on the fourth evening. Yasir plugged away on a good length, but kept varying his lines to Chase. One instance of this came in the fourth over of the morning, when he floated one up outside off after sending down a series of balls around leg stump. Chase had kept his front pad resolutely out of the way while defending the leg-stump balls. Now, he failed to get his front foot across to drive, and sliced the ball uppishly towards backward point.
In his next over, Chase left two balls on a similar line wide of off. Then, finally, Yasir found the perfect line, pitching on off and middle, forcing Chase to play, and the perfect pace, slow enough to make him reach out, to find his edge.
By the 18th over of the morning - the 80th of West Indies' innings - Yasir was into his 26th straight over since the fourth evening, and seemed to be tiring, serving up a long-hop that Blackwood pulled for four. But Misbah-ul-Haq kept him on, even though he took the second new ball as soon as it was due, and stuck with him even after an expensive first over with it, when Shai Hope put him away for two authoritative boundaries through the off side.
Yasir rewarded Misbah's faith, getting the ball to skid on as Blackwood came forward to defend, looking for turn, and brushed his pads before clattering the stumps. Blackwood, who had lived on the edge on the fourth day, had looked far more assured on the fifth morning, not trying anything extravagant but putting away the smallest lapse in length, such as when he drove Sohail Khan twice to the cover boundary in the first over with the new ball.
Then, in the penultimate over of the session, the tendency for the new ball to skid brought Yasir his fifth wicket. Holder, going on to the back foot to work him through the leg side, couldn't bring his bat down quick enough. He hesitated too long before deciding to review umpire Richard Illingworth's lbw decision, which was just as well because the ball was pitching in line and had straightened just enough to hit a good chunk of leg stump.
Hope played Yasir impressively during his innings of 41, his inside-out drives a standout feature, and it was Zulfiqar who eventually dismissed him. Looking to defend off the back foot, he was undone by one that turned more than expected, and Younis Khan fell to his left to take a sharp low catch. Yasir then grabbed his sixth, bowling the left-handed Miguel Cummins when he played inside the line of a legbreak, before Zulfiqar wrapped up victory, slowing it down and getting Devendra Bishoo to miscue a slog-sweep to Misbah-ul-Haq running from midwicket to square leg.
3rd Test
Day 1
PAK 255/8
After losing another toss and having to bowl again, West Indies rocked Pakistan with Shannon Gabriel's two wickets in the first over, and had a productive final session to leave Pakistan at 255 for 8 by the end of the first day in Sharjah. Sami Aslam, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq and Sarfraz Ahmed all made fifties, but Pakistan were pegged back by untimely setbacks, partly of their own making.
Resuming at 148 for 3 after tea, Pakistan lost five wickets to concede the advantage to West Indies. Aslam, who had looked increasingly assured for his 74 off 172, was the first to depart. In the first over of the session, he gloved a reverse sweep over the wicketkeeper but Jason Holder ran around from first slip to take a simple catch. Misbah and Sarfraz then added 80 at more than four runs an over, before the Pakistan captain also perished to a reverse sweep that went wrong. Legspiner Devendra Bishoo was the bowler on both occasions and he finished with 4 for 74.
That was the start of Pakistan's silly season. Mohammad Nawaz charged at Bishoo, did not get anywhere near the pitch of the ball and was comprehensively beaten to set up a straightforward stumping. Sarfraz, having brought up an enterprising fifty, drove away from his body, off Gabriel, to drag the ball back onto his stumps. When Bishoo beat Wahab Riaz's limp forward prod to trap him lbw, Pakistan had lost their last four wickets for 18 runs.
It could have been worse. Misbah began his 49th Test in charge - a Pakistan record - by winning his third toss of the series and opting to bat yet again. But that was where the sense of déjà vu ended.
Gabriel dismissed Azhar for a first-ball duck off just the second delivery of the match. Banging the ball in short of a length, he got it to rise awkwardly and swing away a touch, to hit the shoulder of the bat and provide a comfortable catch to Kraigg Brathwaite at second slip. It was the third time Gabriel had dismissed Azhar in the series.
Then, Gabriel nipped one back into Shafiq to beat his bat and hit his pad. It looked like the ball may have been going down leg, but West Indies reviewed Paul Reiffel's not-out decision and Hawk-Eye showed it hitting enough of leg stump to send the batsman on his way. Pakistan were 1 for 2.
A good start for West Indies could have been even better had Marlon Samuels, fielding at cover, hit the stumps at the keeper's end after Younis set off for a risky single in the second over. Sami Aslam would have been run-out without facing a ball.
But as both batsmen settled in, they played some lovely shots. Younis timed a half-volley through midwicket for a boundary and followed that up with a gorgeous cover drive a few overs later. Aslam played a beautiful drive through mid-off and unleashed a number of sweeps and slog sweeps. The two put on 106 runs for the third wicket.
Younis had a couple of lucky escapes in the 22nd over. He flicked a full ball from offspinner Roston Chase towards midwicket, where Leon Johnson, still wearing a helmet from his stint at a close-in position, dropped a tough catch. Two balls later, Younis charged out but missed a leg-side delivery; wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich fumbled the ball in his haste to effect the stumping and the batsman dived back in to safety.
Chase eventually had his man when Younis, on 51, top-edged an attempted sweep to square leg, where Johnson made amends for his earlier drop.
Pakistan's biggest reprieve of the day came halfway through the second session. In 43rd over, Gabriel appealed for an lbw against Misbah but it was ruled not out. The ball, pitched full on off stump, seemed to have missed the bat on its way to strike the front pad in front of middle stump. Then it hit the back pad, creating two noises and therefore doubt in the on-field umpire's mind. West Indies went for a review but those selfsame doubts forced Ray Illingworth, the third umpire, to rule in favour of the batsman. There was no snicko or HotSpot to help in the deliberations. Misbah survived and added another 47 to his score.
Day 2
Pakistan 281
West Indies 244/6 (78.0 ov)
West Indies trail by 37 runs with 4 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Pakistan rebounded from being bowled out for 281 to reduce West Indies to 38 for 3, but had to work much harder for their subsequent breakthroughs as Kraigg Brathwaite led his side back into contention with a gritty, unbeaten 95. Supported first by Roston Chase and then by Shane Dowrich, Brathwaite helped West Indies close on 244 for 6 after two hard-fought sessions.
Confronted with a probing bowling effort, a slow outfield and horrid start from his top-order team-mates, Brathwaite maintained his composure and patience throughout his 206-ball vigil. Unlike the more free-flowing batsmen at the other end, he seldom tried to force the pace, content to play the ball late whenever he could. Nine of his ten fours came behind the wicket, the sole exception being a loft over mid-on off Zulfiqar Babar.
After the three early wickets, Jermaine Blackwood briefly looked promising after lunch. However, his attacking instincts, and his seeming refusal to rein them in, soon led to his downfall. Having driven Mohammad Amir on the up for a boundary through cover, Blackwood tried to repeat the shot a few balls later. Only, this time, the delivery was slightly shorter and not quite there for the drive; Blackwood edged it to gully and departed for a run-a-ball 23.
Chase was the next to keep Brathwaite company. In a productive period leading to tea, Chase hit a number of lovely cover drives, moving to 43 off 82 by the interval. He did have a few awkward moments against spin, though, with legspinner Yasir Shah luring him into some injudicious shots against the turn.
Chase kept taking the bait and creamed Yasir for a big six over long-on to reach his fifty shortly after tea. Like Blackwood, however, he perished after one indiscretion too many. With left-armer Amir angling the ball across him from over the wicket, Chase went for an extravagant drive and only managed a thick edge to Younis Khan in the slips. That brought to an end an 83-run fifth-wicket partnership, but West Indies were still vulnerable at 151 for 5.
Next, it was Dowrich's turn to complement Brathwaite's marathon knock. Dowrich hit several attractive boundaries during his 90-ball 47, and was particularly strong square of the wicket on the off side. But he had two major strokes of luck early in his innings.
The first, with Dowrich on 15, came via a recurring theme - a Wahab Riaz no-ball. The bowler had enticed the batsman into chasing a full, wide delivery and edging it to Asad Shafiq at gully. But he had overstepped - for the 15th time in the series - and Dowrich lived on. A few overs later, Dowrich attempted to sweep Azhar Ali, and the ball hit the back of bat before looping to Younis at slip, who put down the chance after an elaborate juggle.
It was around this time that things seemed to be slipping away from Pakistan. Leg-side deliveries were helped on their way to the fine-leg boundary. Dowrich unfurled some cracking strokes. The odd mis-hit landed safely. Wahab received two warnings for following through in the danger area. As the partnership ticked along past 60, then 70, then 80, West Indies seemed to be regaining the upper hand.
But, against the run of play, Dowrich dragged an innocuous ball from Wahab onto his stumps, ending an 83-run stand. West Indies closed out the day 37 short of Pakistan's first-innings total, with four wickets in hand.
That was a markedly better outcome than they might have expected after a tumultuous morning session in which five wickets fell for 64 runs. Alzarri Joseph took the last two Pakistan wickets to bowl them out for 281, just 7.5 overs into the day, before Pakistan struck back through early breakthroughs.
Amir troubled Leon Johnson in the first over by swinging the ball away from the left-hander, before Wahab dismissed him for 1 with a straight ball that trapped him in front.
Then, towards the end of the first session, Darren Bravo miscued a cross-batted swing off Babar in the air towards cover, where Amir took a screamer of a catch. Soon after, Yasir trapped Marlon Samuels plumb in front and the batsman departed, but not before wasting a review. By lunch, West Indies were sinking deep into a hole.
It was Brathwaite's resolute knock that helped them steadily work their way out of it by the time the day was over.
Day 3
Pakistan 281 & 87/4 (39.0 ov)
West Indies 337
Pakistan lead by 31 runs with 6 wickets remaining
For the first time on a long, fruitless tour of the UAE, West Indies found themselves ahead in a game, after a stellar century and a spirited bowling effort on the third day in Sharjah. Kraigg Brathwaite's unbeaten 142 off 318 balls - he carried his bat - steered West Indies to a hard-earned lead of 56 in the first innings, before Jason Holder made three breakthroughs in a lively spell after tea.
Pakistan lost four wickets before erasing the deficit, but Azhar Ali and Sarfraz Ahmed stabilised the innings with an unbroken 39-run partnership for the fifth wicket and took Pakistan to 87 for 4 by stumps.
The inroads into Pakistan came via a short-ball barrage. Holder bowled a fast bouncer to Sami Aslam that the batsman could only top edge to fine leg. Another well-directed bouncer got big on Asad Shafiq and had him fending to Darren Bravo at gully. Then Younis Khan got a faint tickle on a leg-side delivery to give Holder his third. When Misbah-ul-Haq pulled offspinner Roston Chase straight to Devendra Bishoo at deep-backward square leg, Pakistan had lost four wickets for 11 runs to slip to 48 for 4.
It could have been even better for West Indies. With Pakistan's score at 71, Shannon Gabriel bowled a nasty, steep bouncer at Sarfraz, batting on 9, who fended it to Bravo at slip. But Gabriel had overstepped - for the 26th time in the series - by a big margin and Sarfraz survived. He moved on to 19 by stumps, while Azhar had 45. But with Pakistan's lead still only 31, they were a fair distance from safety and heavily dependent on Azhar and Sarfraz to get them there. West Indies, for their part, had worked their way into a good position to push for their first win in 14 Tests.
The foundation had been laid by Brathwaite, who became the fifth West Indies batsman to carry his bat. He was a paragon of patience and concentration for the majority of his marathon knock and his temperament was matched by an ability to work ones and twos to all corners of the ground. Though all but one of his 11 fours came behind the wicket, owing to the slow outfield, he scored evenly all around the field thanks to his ability to manoeuvre the ball into gaps.
Resuming on 95 on the third morning, Brathwaite made that 99 with the first ball of the day, helping a slightly wide delivery from Mohammad Amir between gully and point. Brathwaite worked the fifth ball for a two through midwicket to bring up his fifth Test century.
His overnight batting partner was Holder, who started promisingly, looking solid in defence and playing a couple of sumptuous drives for four. The first, off left-armer Wahab Riaz, was a straight drive to a delivery angled into him from around the wicket. He kept his balance perfectly and timed the ball sweetly, beating mid-on to his left. The second, off Amir, was a gorgeous drive through the extra-cover region to a ball that was angled across him.
But Holder's dismissal came immediately after that second boundary. Amir, also a left-armer, changed the angle by going around the wicket to attack the stumps. Holder misjudged the line, shouldered arms and had his off stump rattled.
Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, introduced in the 96th over for just his fifth over of the match, created the next two chances - in the space of four balls. First, he got Brathwaite to attempt a cut at one that was too straight. The ball bounced more than Brathwaite had expected and he got a thin edge to wicketkeeper Sarfraz, who fumbled it onto the grille of his helmet before it fell to ground. Then, off the last ball of the over, Bishoo swept onto his pad to Azhar at short leg, but he, too, fumbled it onto the grille of his helmet before taking the catch. While Michael Gough gave it out on the field, Bishoo reviewed and third umpire Richard Illingworth spotted the infraction.
By that time, West Indies had taken the lead, and Brathwaite and Bishoo continued to build an eighth-wicket partnership that steadily extended it. Bishoo was more than adequate in the pair's 60-run stand, mirroring some of the grit that Brathwaite had shown in spades. But he was the first to depart after lunch, nicking behind off Wahab. Wahab then accounted for Alzarri Joseph and Gabriel to wrap up the West Indies innings and claim his second five-wicket haul in Tests.
That still left West Indies with a handy first-innings lead, and it looked handier still after Holder's post-tea exploits.
Day 4
Pakistan 281 & 208
West Indies 337 & 114/5 (36.0 ov)
West Indies require another 39 runs with 5 wickets remaining
After subsiding for 208 to set West Indies a target of 153, Pakistan took five wickets to leave the Sharjah Test tantalisingly poised at stumps on day four. But, just 39 runs away from claiming their first win of the UAE tour, West Indies held the edge thanks to Kraigg Brathwaite's immovable presence at the crease.
Brathwaite, who had carried his bat through the first innings for 142, was at the crease on 44, having seen his side through a startling wobble that had left them 67 for 5. He looked calm and solid throughout his knock, assured in defence and adept at rotating the strike. Shane Dowrich, who kept him company in an unbroken 47-run sixth-wicket stand that saw out the day, was less convincing early in his innings, playing Wahab Riaz with feet rooted to the crease and stumps exposed. Nonetheless, he settled in to hit some telling boundaries towards the end of the day and tilt the balance back in West Indies' favour.
That West Indies found themselves with the upper hand was thanks in no small part to some loose cricket from Pakistan. In a tragicomic collapse after lunch, Pakistan lost five wickets for 33 runs, including 3 for 4 in the space of 18 balls, to be bowled out for 208.
The slide began in the seventh over after lunch, when legspinner Devendra Bishoo had Mohammad Nawaz caught at short leg. He landed the ball on a good length in the rough outside the left-hander's off stump and extracted just enough turn to pick up an inside edge to Leon Johnson, who stuck out his left hand to take a sharp catch.
Bishoo's next wicket came four overs later, when Azhar Ali, batting on 91, gifted his wicket away. Seeing a liberally flighted delivery, Azhar started shaping for a sweep, before realising the ball was too far outside off stump for the shot. Instead of leaving the ball alone, Azhar then offered a limp drive and only succeeded in guiding it to Darren Bravo at first slip.
Thirteen balls later, Mohammad Amir perished to one of the most entertaining run-outs conceivable to leave Pakistan in even greater trouble. Wickets were now falling at increasingly short intervals; the next one came after four balls when Wahab Riaz turned a Holder delivery to Johnson, who took a remarkable reflex catch at short leg, off the face of the bat.
Zulfiqar Babar then chipped in with a six and a four in a seven-ball 15 that took Pakistan past 200 and their lead past 150. But Holder trapped Yasir Shah in front for a duck to conclude a breathless passage of play and collect figures of 5 for 30. It was Holder's first five-wicket haul in Tests and put his team within sight of their first Test win under his captaincy.
Having left the door wide open for West Indies, Pakistan then proceeded to give them encouraging nudges towards the threshold. Off the fifth delivery of the chase, Amir found Johnson's edge only for Misbah-ul-Haq to put down a regulation chance at third slip. Amir's frustration was compounded in his next over, when Sami Aslam, at first slip, made a total hash of another chance off the same batsman.
But shortly after tea, West Indies lost 5 for 38 in a period of play that brought Pakistan roaring back. Yasir got the first three of those wickets. Johnson, looking to pull a shortish delivery, was hit in front when the ball did not rise as much as he expected. Bravo was set up beautifully by four legbreaks before Yasir slipped one in that did not turn as much and took the outside edge. Marlon Samuels went for an irresponsible loft with long-off in place and holed out to Babar.
Then Wahab bowled Jermaine Blackwood when the batsman brought down an angled bat to a ball that honed into the stumps from around the wicket. When Roston Chase flicked Wahab in the air to midwicket, West Indies were tottering.
Perhaps fittingly, West Indies' recovery was engineered by a man who had hardly been off the field throughout the match. With Dowrich for company, and Holder and Bishoo still to come, Brathwaite can expect decent support as he attempts to steer his team to their first win in 14 Tests.
Day 5
Pakistan 281 & 208
West Indies 337 & 154/5
West Indies won by 5 wickets
Kraigg Brathwaite became the first opener to be unbeaten in both innings of a Test, as he led West Indies to an absorbing five-wicket win over Pakistan in Sharjah - their first Test win outside the West Indies and Bangladesh since 2007. It was also West Indies' first win in 14 Tests and their first under the captaincy of Jason Holder.
Yet, resuming on 114 for 5, with 39 runs to win, overnight batsmen Brathwaite and Shane Dowrich showed no sign of letting the occasion get to them. Brathwaite opened proceedings with a crisp drive to the cover boundary off Wahab Riaz on the first ball of the day. Dowrich smacked a half-tracker from Yasir Shah to the midwicket boundary in the next over. That set the tone as the pair took just 7.5 overs to knock down the target in clinical fashion on the fifth morning.
While neither batsman looked to force the pace, they were not afraid to put away bad balls either. Late cuts and drives through the off side featured prominently as the pair glided past the finish line with minimum fuss. Dowrich sealed the win, slashing a short ball from Mohammad Amir towards the third-man boundary for the sixth four of the morning.
Pakistan's bowlers were unable to create any pressure on a pitch that was still rather placid. Neither Wahab nor Amir got much swing or movement off the surface, and Yasir was ineffective and inconsistent in the two overs he bowled. The batsmen seemed to have little trouble in keeping the straight ones out and punishing anything that was too short or too wide.
It was all a far cry from West Indies' wobble the previous evening, as they slid to 67 for 5 after a rather shaky 29-run opening partnership. But Brathwaite and Dowrich scored unbeaten half-centuries, combining for a nerveless 87-run stand to steer their side to a memorable victory and finish a tough tour of the UAE on a high.
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