Pakistan v West Indies - Third Test

Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar

Pakistan: Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Majid Khan, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal, *Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, +Wasim Bari, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis.
West Indies: CG Greenidge, DL Haynes, IVA Richards, EdeC Weekes, CH Lloyd, *GStA Sobers, +PJL Dujon, MD Marshall, MA Holding, LR Gibbs, CA Walsh.

Debuts: Nil
Umpires: DR Shepherd (ENG) & AR Crafter (AUS)
Toss: Pakistan

With Viv Richards and returning skipper Garry Sobers becoming the first players to reach 50 ATG caps, there were celebrations in the West Indies' camp before a ball was bowled in Peshawar, but would the tourists still be celebrating after five days' play on a pitch that was not expected to go the distance?

It was a good toss to win for Imran, and it was honours Pakistan on first innings, with Majid Khan's fluent century the main difference between the two teams. Majid (130) and Zaheer (89) piled on 167 for the fourth wicket after Zaheer had been dropped on 12 by Marshall off the bowling of Gibbs, but once Marshall removed Majid during an excellent second morning spell, Pakistan lost their last seven wickets for just 97, with Imran's 48 the only other meaningful contribution out of a final total of 385. As a footnote to the innings, all ten wickets had fallen to catches, just the third such occurrence in ATG history.

West Indies' reply got off to a rocket start, Greenidge, Haynes and Richards all passing 50 as the score sped to 170-1 on the third morning, but after both Imran and Qadir had been savagely hit out of the attack, three separate stoppages for rain did not help the batsmen's concentration, and Waqar returned to wipe away the middle order before a defiant fifty partnership for the eighth wicket between Marshall (34) and Holding (31) pushed the total beyond 300. A resurgent Qadir bowled well at the end of the innings, which closed with West Indies having totalled 328, and Pakistan thus took a 57 run lead into what proved to be a pivotal fourth day.

Batting was now proving more difficult on a pitch that was offering up some uneven bounce, and after both openers had departed fending catches to Haynes at short leg, Javed (18), Zaheer (9) and Majid (39) all fell hooking as Walsh in particular got the ball to lift off a length with alarming regularity. At 96-5 Pakistan's innings was in danger of imploding, but Asif and Imran built an important stand that took the score to 134-5 at tea, and a lead of 191; the wheels fell off after the break though. Asif, trying to leave Walsh's first ball after tea, played on for 32, Akram lost his leg stump to the same bowler for 1, then Gibbs found some turn to sweep away the tail to finish with figures of 3-5 off 6.2 overs as Pakistan collapsed to 146 all out, the last five wickets having tumbled for 12 runs after the interval.

Walsh and Gibbs had bowled West Indies back into the match, and they now faced a target of 204 to secure their first ever ATG victory over Pakistan. Bad light brought day four to a premature close only three overs into the West Indies' innings, and with rain forecast for the final day the tourists would be battling the elements as well as a hostile track and a deteriorating wicket. Wasim Akram removed Greenidge and Richards early, but Haynes and Weekes took West Indies to within one ball of lunch at which time Haynes, on 43, feathered a rising delivery from Imran to give Wasim Bari his hundredth ATG victim and to leave the match on a knife edge once more, West Indies 88-3 and still 116 away from victory.

Weekes held firm in the afternoon and nudged past 50 for the first time in the series, but just when it looked as though West Indies were going to be able to engage cruise control, three wickets fell in the blink of an eye and the outcome was back in the melting pot again. Asif removed Weekes for 54, his off pole flattened with a beauty that jagged away sharply off the seam, Lloyd (15) slammed a return catch to Qadir after lofting the previous ball for six and Sobers was cleaned up by Waqar for just 6 to leave the innings teetering at 136-6, still 68 runs short of the winning post.

The tension was becoming almost unbearable, but Dujon and Marshall batted sensibly in adding 27 for the seventh wicket until Qadir gated the former for 12 with an excellent googly, and at 163-7 it would surely now have to be down to Marshall and Holding to see West Indies home, with only Gibbs and Walsh to come. The same pair had added a valuable 51 in the first innings, and once again they batted calmly, despite a succession of appeals and close shaves, generated in the main by the enigmatic Qadir, but at 190-7, just 14 runs away from victory, the promised rain finally fell and the teams spent an agonizing half hour in the pavilion until the umpires deemed conditions fit to resume.

We were now into the final hour, but with the skies still leaden it was highly doubtful that all the overs would be bowled, so Holding took it upon himself to wrap up proceedings quickly. A towering six off Qadir raised the 200 and took West Indies to within two runs of victory, and a dismissive drive through mid off in Akram's next over sealed the deal, giving West Indies their first ever triumph over Pakistan in eleven attempts and squaring the series at 1-1 with one to play. Marshall finished on 35*, Holding - who has now scored 175 runs in the series at an average of 58 - finished on 22*, and the pair had added a steely, undefeated 44 to see their side home. It had been a finish for the ages in Peshawar, and the stage is now set for the grandest of finales in Lahore.

Scores
PAK 1st Inns 385 (Majid Khan 130, Zaheer Abbas 89, Imran Khan 48; Marshall 4-93)
WI 1st Inns 328 (Haynes 62, Richards 62, Greenidge 51)
PAK 2nd Inns 146 (Walsh 4-37)
WI 2nd Inns 207-7 (Weekes 54, Haynes 43)

WEST INDIES WON BY 3 WICKETS


Man of the Match: MD Marshall