Pakistan took a giant stride towards winning their first-ever Test series in the Caribbean, after an efficient bowling performance helped ease to seven-wicket win in Kingston. After Yasir Shah's six-for in the second innings left Pakistan chasing 32, Misbah-ul-Haq, who walked in at the fall of Younis Khan's wicket with the side needing eight, hit two successive sixes to complete the formalities.
Pakistan, emboldened by pushing West Indies to a tight corner last evening, spent the morning session closing in. They picked up six wickets for 59 as West Indies, resuming 93 for 4, were bowled out for 152.
Misbah was in no mood to experiment, getting his two best bowlers - Mohammad Amir and Yasir Shah - into the attack straight away. At perhaps no stage of the Test did a wicket look as imminent as it did in the first 10 overs. Amir tormented nightwatchman Devendra Bishoo with an unwavering line outside off stump. Or perhaps it was the other way round, as Bishoo kept missing, somehow managing to keep his outside edge from making contact with the ball.
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Unless we do something about our management and selectors, especially the chief selector, expect the same result or worse. I am yet to understand why Samuel, Jacobs and Taylor were left out from the original 13, and was really shocked on the morning of the test to see Blackwood was left out I guess for the hopeless Hope. Do they follow their stats? Of late Samuel has been very disappointing but this would have been a big game for him, at home, since his future depended on it, especially after we lost Daren Bravo, the ONLY batsman with 8 centuries. We talking about 15 test centuries combined. To me that was a big blonder. Taylor, like Samuel had a big point to prove. With 130 test wickets, 5 wkts or more 4 times of which 3 times at Kingston, with his last test in 2015 against Australia at same venue, had a 6 for, you living him from a bowling attack with only Bishoo and Gabriel with 50 wickets or more? Madness man! Blackwood: apart from Brathwaite with an average of 34. no one else who has played 10 matches or more has a better average than Blacky's 31.33, with 1 century and 9 fifties. He is the only one to have scored a 50 against all test teams and in every series. Last series in Pakistan scored 95 in the second test and his last test in Jamaica had a fifty in both innings! You dropping him for Hope that can't score a 50
Pakistan picked a winning team of experience and youth, while we picked a losing team of youth alone. You need experience and youth to win or build a team. The Pakistanis played a batting lineup comprised of 74 test centuries, with 5 of them with five or more centuries. Compare that with our combined 10 centuries, with Brathwaite scoring five of them. Could we do with Samuel's 7 and Bravos's 8? Better yet, what about CHanderpaul who is still our best batsman in the region at 42, with 30 centuries? Pakistan played their 39 year old Yonis Khan, with 34 centuries, and their 42 year old captain who has 10 centuries, because they know very well that their young players need the seniors to help build their confidence. In the West Indies we dumping all our seniors and trying to build with youth. Something is wrong with our selectors man. Is either they too fat and cannot see or understand what it takes to build a winning team. Daren Bravo is still young but we cut him lose.
If anything selectors need to take a close look at Bishoo because of late he has not been taking wickets for us or putting pressure on batsmen. Why have they not brought given 24 year old Rahkeem Cornwall a chance? He is one of the leading off spinners in the region and is a genuine batsman. Discriminating against the young man because of his size? But is he not still performing? But if they are concerned about his size and fitness what about the size and fitness of the selectors? If he was from Barbados and doing as well as he has been doing surely he would have been in the test squad longtime! Hope, though good in regional tournament but a total failure in test, yet they keep bringing him and destroying the young man's confidence. If they see talent in him why not put him on a presidents X1 team and see how he performs against test bowlers? Why not put him on a West Indies A team? They keep shielding him from international bowlers and just put him on the test team. They just hurting him instead of helping him develop man
