Roach double strike stuns Pakistan

Kemar Roach struck twice for the West Indies after his team had taken a 36-run first innings lead over Pakistan on the third day of the first Test at Sabina Park yesterday.Shaheen Shah Afridi started well on his country’s Independence Day in taking the last two West Indies first innings wickets to have the home side dismissed for 253. But Roach then left the visitors in more than a little discomfort with a wicket in each of his two spells in the morning session to have Pakistan at 56 for two, a lead of 20 runs, going into the afternoon period of play.Once again showing the value of his experience and accuracy, the Barbadian trapped Imran Butt leg-before without scoring.After an increasingly promising 55-run stand between the other opener, Abid Ali, and former captain Azhar Ali, Roach then produced a sharp off-cutter to Azhar which clipped the right-hander’s leg-stump as he shuffled too far across the crease off what proved to be the final ball of the morning.While Azhar’s reaction to the dismissal suggested that the ball had also kept lower than he anticipated, it was just reward for the persevering Roach who had earlier seen the normally safe pair of hands of Jason Holder spill a regulation catch at second slip off the same batsman.Pakistan captain Babar Azam is expected to join Abid Ali (31 not out) at the crease when play resumes and on a surface which is already showing signs of wear.Earlier on a bright, warm day, the visitors will be looking to their leader to play the type of innings, even if in a different style, shown by his West Indian counterpart, Kraigg Brathwaite, who anchored his team’s first innings effort with a resolute 97.The phlegmatic opener put on 50 with overnight partner Roston Chase (21) for the third wicket, followed immediately by a stand of 49 with Jermaine Blackwood.However Blackwood’s demise to Shaheen Shah Afridi was followed next ball by the dismissal of Kyle Mayers, tilting the balance of the contest Pakistan’s way. That balance could have been decisively theirs just two balls later when Shaheen got a leg-before verdict against Holder before he had scored, only for the decision to be overturned on review of the television replay.It proved a critical reprieve as Holder’s innings, initially watchful against the faster bowlers, blossomed with the introduction of the infrequently-used wrist-spinner Yasir Shah. Yet it was the deceptive pace of Faheem Ashraf which broke the partnership after tea just as Babar Azam’s men seemed to be running out of ideas.Holder edged a delivery through to wicketkeeper Mohamad Rizwan to leave all attention focused on Brathwaite as he crept towards what would have been his 11th Test century.All that hard work was undone by his own error of judgement.As he turned a delivery from Yasir to short fine-leg, he decided to come back for a second run only for Hasan Ali’s direct hit to find him well short of his ground.Brathwaite’s innings, following a succession of low scores amid his team’s struggles in the two-Test series against South Africa in St Lucia two months earlier, spanned six hours during which he faced 221 deliveries and struck 12 fours. “I would have loved to have been there at the end and to get three figures, but it was my error and I have to take responsibility for that,” he said in reflecting on his effort,”Brathwaite said.There was certainly no lack of resolve from Shaheen Shah Afridi at the start of the day as he needed just ten deliveries to wrap up the West Indies innings after they resumed at 251 for eight. He bowled Jomel Warrican comprehensively in the first over of the day and then earned an lbw verdict against Joshua da Silva in his second over to finish with figures of four for 59.