(Bridgetown, Barbados)
Just before midday people started leaving their offices in Bridgetown to rush down to Kensington Oval because something special was about to happen. Just before 2 pm the West Indies had defeated Pakistan by 106 runs to square the Brighto Cup Test series 1-1 with one to play.
Shannon Gabriel, the big man from T&T, brought back memories of the halcyon days of West Indies cricket by routing Pakistan for the lowest score in Test cricket at Kensington Oval.
Chasing 188 runs to win their first Test series in the Caribbean and their first Test in Barbados, Pakistan crashed to 81 all out under the home-team attack led by Gabriel.
The pacer grabbed five for 11 his best Test figures and ended with nine wickets on an unresponsive Kensington pitch to claim the man of the match title. His previous best Test figures was 5/96 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.
The West Indies resumed on 264 for nine and before the mobile cameraman could have gotten off the field, Devendra Bishoo was following him. He fell after five balls into the day’s play to Yasir Shah, who ended with the magnificent figures of seven for 94.
West Indies then went to work on the Pakistani batsmen and Gabriel, removed first innings century-maker Zahar Ali with just 10 runs on the board. Young Alzari Joseph followed his example and gave Babar Azam his first pair of ducks in Test cricket. At 11 for two, the West Indies fast bowlers were firing and given the uncertain nature of the fifth day track, Pakistan were searching for runs. They might have found oil and gas easier in limestone Barbados, as the Windies quicks were on spot.
Skipper Jason Holder continued the trend set by the opening bowlers and removed the dangerous Younis Khan for five. As the right-hander in his last series trudged off the park, he glanced at the scoreboard to see the score 27 for three. Soon after Gabriel would get into the act again, sending back skipper Misbah ul Haq and Asad Shafiq and Pakistan was in more trouble than the world economy.
Opener Ahmed Shehzad who had defied the locals for 117 minutes over 61 balls, fell to Joseph and Pakistan looked sorry at 36 for seven. Wicketkeeper Sarfarz Ahmed and Mahammad Amir tried to bring Pakistan back into the contest and added 42 runs for the eight wicket, but Gabriel came back to remove Amir for 20 and the end was near. Holder removed Ahmed for 23 to end with figures of three for 23 and six in the match.