West Indies Win First Test against Pakistan in Guyana By Forty Run Margin!

The man in the picture shaking hands with the West Indies captain, Darren Sammy, would have hoped Pakistan had scored those precious forty runs. Saeed Ajmal picked up a ten-for for the match but could not help Pakistan as the visitors lost to the West Indies in the first Test at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.

darren sammy saeed ajmal

In a match where fortunes fluctuated alarmingly, it was still with some surprise that the Pakistan cricket team ended up on the losing side. However, it has to be said that Pakistan will rue the fact that they conceded as many runs as they did by way of deficit after the respective first innings were done that saw them miss winning the Test match.

Saeed Ajmal picked up five wickets in an innings that the West Indies appeared to be struggling to push through. Only Lendl Simmons - with a retired hurt break in between his knock - stood out for his innings of forty-six in West Indies' innings where batsmen from the top to the bottom of the batting order seemed to get starts but failed to kick on to really make it count as West Indies ended their first innings on 226.

However, Pakistan struggled even more under the likes Ravi Rampaul, Devendra Bishoo and Sammy, unable to get going in a manner that could have a decisive impact on the match. Even Azhar Ali's thirty-three runs or Umar Akmal's identical number of runs or Abdur Rehman's forty runs, which was the top score of Pakistan's first innings, failed to see Pakistan get past 160, conceding a sixty-six run deficit that proved costly in the end. Sammy bowled tirelessly, his twelve overs giving him a couple of wickets in a miserly concession of runs. Bishoo's four wickets and Rampaul's three were heartening figures for the hosts.

But the West Indies struggled to capitalize on the lead and had it not been for Shivnarine Chanderpaul's thirty-six unbeaten runs, it could have been fair game for Pakistan. West Indies managed just 152, once again struck by Ajmal who pocketed another six wickets for a ten wicket haul for the match, as the West Indies set a target of 216.

Pakistan's middle order came resolutely to do the job, but could not finish it. After Pakistan were rattled early when they lost three wickets with just two runs on board, Asad Shafiq joined hands with the Pakistan Test captain, Mishbah ul Haq, to repair the early damage caused largely by Rampaul.

Eighty-one runs later, Shafiq was dismissed by Sammy for forty-two runs, leaving the onus on Misbah in the valiant chase. Misbah's partnership with Umar Akmal was the first effort as it turned out to be for Pakistan's fortunes. Akmal's forty-seven runs went in vain as first Misbah was done in by Sammy yet again after making a fighting half century. Thereafter, from five down for 135, matters started to slide downwards once more for Pakistan, Umar Akmal the second last man to be dismissed and Saeed Ajmal the final wicket to fall with the score on 166 with Rampaul picking up four wickets but Sammy striking the death knell with five wickets for only twenty-nine runs from seventeen precious overs for the jubilant West Indies.