West Indies Beat Pakistan In A Tight Low Scoring Match

West Indies Beat Pakistan In A Tight Low Scoring Match of ICC Champions trophy 2013’s 2nd match of group B at the Oval.

Roach knocked the top of Pakistan’s batting with three wickets in his first four overs, leaving them at 15 for 3, and Narine sparked another collapse in the middle order with six wickets falling for 33. Either side of those, Nasir Jamshed and Misbah, the only two batsmen into double figures, repaired a lot of the early damage with a fourth-wicket stand of 90, only for it to be wastefully given away amid rash shots and run outs from the lower order.

At least Mohammad Irfan tried to help Misbah – who was given a life before he had scored – see out the innings and almost saw his captain to a gusty century before popping a catch into the leg side with two overs remaining. Misbah farmed the strike, verging between declining singles and thumping the ball straight, but could not quite register a maiden ODI hundred in his 118th match.

The demographics of The Oval crowd are more in favour of Pakistan than West Indies these days, but it was the cricketers from the Caribbean who held sway on the field. Kemar Roach, with a wonderful spell of pace bowling, and Sunil Narine shared six wickets between them as Pakistan limped to 170 despite Misbah-ul-Haq’s defiant career-best 96.

Not for the first time, Pakistan’s bowlers tried their best to compensate for a poor batting display and kept this Group B clash alive at The Oval. Having lost early wickets against Mohammad Irfan, West Indies stuttered again when Chris Gayle departed having steadied the chase alongside Marlon Samuels.

For 12 overs, the experienced pair of Gayle and Samuels made significant inroads into the chase. Gayle was not at his most aggressive, but still produced the occasional memorable stroke such as a one-legged pull and a glorious straight drive off Irfan which comfortably cleared the straight boundary. Until that point Irfan had conceded seven balls from 22 deliveries and then Gayle took consecutive boundaries in his next over to close in on a run-a-ball.

Samuels, as he did in England last year, drove beautifully through the off side and became a central figure in the chase when Gayle departed. It was a classy, and brave, piece of bowling by Saeed Ajmal who flummoxed Gayle with a well-flighted doosra which he tried to heave over the leg side.

With Sarwan quickly following, tension began to envelop West Indies’ batting (even with one of the coolest men in the game at the crease) and it took a nervous Kieron Pollard, who struggled to picked Ajmal, 18 deliveries to get off the mark

But in the end the tail enders of the west indies team were able to finish it quiet easily at the edge and won their first match in champions trophy 2013.

Man Of The Match: Kemar Roach

Scorecard:

	Pakistan innings (50 overs maximum)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	Imran Farhat	c DJ Bravo b Roach	2	2	6	0	0	33.33
	Nasir Jamshed	c Rampaul b Narine	50	127	93	5	0	53.76
	Mohammad Hafeez	b Roach	4	16	9	1	0	44.44
	Asad Shafiq	c Rampaul b Roach	0	8	4	0	0	0.00
	Misbah-ul-Haq*	not out	96	187	127	5	3	75.59
	Shoaib Malik	c DJ Bravo b Narine	0	4	1	0	0	0.00
	Kamran Akmal†	c †Ramdin b Narine	2	12	8	0	0	25.00
	Wahab Riaz	run out (DJ Bravo)	6	19	14	0	0	42.85
	Saeed Ajmal	run out (Pollard/Rampaul)	2	8	3	0	0	66.66
	Junaid Khan	c Gayle b DJ Bravo	0	11	9	0	0	0.00
	Mohammad Irfan	c DJ Bravo b Rampaul	2	31	14	0	0	14.28
	Extras	(lb 1, w 5)	6
	Total	(all out; 48 overs)	170	(3.54 runs per over)

	West Indies innings (target: 171 runs from 50 overs)		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	CH Gayle	b Saeed Ajmal	39	80	47	4	1	82.97
	J Charles	c Wahab Riaz b Mohammad Irfan	9	12	14	2	0	64.28
	DM Bravo	c †Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Irfan	0	8	4	0	0	0.00
	MN Samuels	st †Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Hafeez	30	93	57	3	0	52.63
	RR Sarwan	c †Kamran Akmal b Wahab Riaz	1	4	2	0	0	50.00
	KA Pollard	c †Kamran Akmal b Wahab Riaz	30	78	58	3	1	51.72
	DJ Bravo*	lbw b Saeed Ajmal	19	57	36	0	0	52.77
	D Ramdin†	not out	11	29	14	1	0	78.57
	SP Narine	c †Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Irfan	11	14	8	2	0	137.50
	KAJ Roach	not out	5	7	6	1	0	83.33
	Extras	(lb 10, w 5, nb 2)	17
	Total	(8 wickets; 40.4 overs)	172	(4.22 runs per over)

Points Table:

Source – Cricinfo