Image courtesy of: ABC News
Roach’s effort with the bat and ball ensured the West Indies got their campaign off to a winning start
The West Indies managed to sneak past Pakistan to claim a two-wicket victory in their low-scoring affair at The Oval on June 7.
Chasing a target of just 171 to win, the West Indies seemed to be heading for an easy victory, but Pakistan’s bowlers put up a valiant fight as the men from the Caribbean had no clue to what had hit them.
West Indies ODI captain Dwayne Bravo decided to bowl first as he wanted his bowlers to make full use of the freshness of the wicket.
“We want to bowl first and get the nerves out of the way,” Bravo said. “The wicket is good so we want to give the bowlers the best use of the freshness.”
Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq was annoyed at having lost the toss as he would have liked to bowl as well.
“We would have bowled first,” Misbah said. “But it is a dry pitch and it’s just a matter of seeing the new ball off.”
However, Pakistan’s batsmen failed to see “the new ball off” as West Indies pace bowler Kemar Roach ripped through the top order, leaving Pakistan in tatters at 15 runs for the loss of three wickets.
Roach seemed to have gotten his fourth wicket in the ninth over, but wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin was ruled not to have taken the catch cleanly, despite controversially saying he had in an attempt to send ul-Haq back to the pavilion early into his innings.
With all the drama over and done with, opener Nasir Jamshed and ul-Haq set about the task of rebuilding Pakistan’s innings and succeeded in doing so with a 90-run partnership.
Jamshed had just scored his half-century when he was dismissed by ace spinner Sunil Narine.
However, ul-Haq refused to throw away his wicket and continued to resist the barrage of pace the West Indies threw at him as he too reached in half-century milestone in a fair amount of time.
Just when ul-Haq was on the verge of scoring his maiden ODI century, he was out of partners and left stranded on 96 not out.
But, the 32-run partnership he and 7ft 1in seamer Mohammad Irfan put together almost proved to be the game-changer.
Roach and Narine were the pick of the West Indian bowlers with three wickets apiece, while Ravi Rampaul and Dwayne Bravo both snapped up a wicket each as well.
Roach was awarded the Man of the Match award for his outstanding bowling figures of three wickets for 28 runs after 10 overs.
“[I] wanted to pitch the ball up and let the ball do the work,” Roach said. “It’s great to win the first match. The guys are relieved. Pakistan are a tough side to pay against. Definitely my rhythm was on today. I am proud of myself and the team.”
Chasing 171 to win, the West Indies were pegged back by the two early wickets of opener Johnson Charles and Darren Bravo, both of whom were victims of Pakistan’s Mohammad Irfan.
With the scoreboard reading 15 for two, flamboyant opener Chris Gayle and all-rounder Marlon Samuels steadied the ship with a healthy 63-run partnership off 76 deliveries.
However, just as the West Indies looked to be in the driver’s seat, the always reliable Saeed Ajmal came to Pakistan’s rescue, picking up the huge wicket of Gayle, who was completely fooled by the doosra.
Gayle’s wicket started a domino effect for the West Indies as Ramnaresh Sarwan departed first after being delivered a brute of a bouncer by Wahab Riaz.
Samuels, who had looked solid up to this point, was the next to go as he needlessly charged down the pitch and was easily stumped by Kamran Akmal off the bowling of Mohammad Hafeez.
Kieron Pollard and skipper Dwayne Bravo once again stabilised the West Indies innings with a partnership of 43 before Pollard got a think edge off a delivery from Riaz and had to make his way back to the pavilion for a hard fought 30, which included three boundaries and a six.
Bravo only lasted eight more deliveries before joining Pollard in the hut after being given LBW as he was beaten all ends and caught in front of the stumps by Ajmal. Bravo reviewed the umpire’s decision, but to avail.
At this point the Pakistan bowlers and fans seemed to believe that they could turn the match around, but a quickfire 22-run partnership at 8.8 runs per over between Sunil Narine and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin effectively quashed their enthusiasm and set West Indies up for the win.
However, the match would not finish without more drama as Irfan returned to nab the wicket of Narine before Kemar Roach cleared the in-field to hit the winning runs.
Irfan was definitely the pick of the Pakistan bowlers with three wickets to his name, but Ajmal and Riaz also had a reason to smile as they both snapped up two wickets apiece.
Bravo was pleased to have won his first game after taking over as captain of the ODI side from all-rounder Darren Sammy.
“Tough situation,” Bravo said. “Lot of credit to the boys. Kemar set the stone, backed up by Rampaul and Narine. yes it was a close match but it is important to get the nerves out of the way. We didn’t want Pakistan to bowl first, because there would be moisture and movement. They bowled really well in the chase too, but credit to the boys. Words can’t explain how it felt. Last time Chris Gayle mentioned in the meeting that The Oval is like a home game. We were outnumbered by the Pakistan fans, but we enjoyed it.”
Ul-Haq was content with the fact that the match had been closer than anyone would have expected.
“The plan was to see off the new ball,” he said. “But we did oppositely. Credit goes to them too, they bowled well. With nasir and I, we could have gone to 240-250, but some bad shots and we kept on losing wickets. If you are set, you can’t make mistake, otherwise your team suffers. The century doesn’t matter. Runs matter only if the team wins. Really happy with the way the bowlers bowled. Everybody bowled their hearts out. We need to rectify the small mistakes. Everybody who made the little mistakes need to say they could have done better.”