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PAKISTAN v WEST INDIES
Wisden CricInfo staff - January 1, 1999

At Peshawar, November 17, 18, 19, 20. Pakistan won by an innings and 19 runs. Toss: West Indies. Test debuts: Arshad Khan; R. N. Lewis.

West Indies crashed to what was – for a fortnight – their heaviest ever defeat at the hands of Pakistan, capitulating inside four days by an innings and 19 runs. Coming hard on the heels of their whitewash in the quadrangular limited-overs series, this was another indicator of the decline in Caribbean standards.

Walsh was left to rue his decision to bat first when his team were tottering at 58 for seven just after lunch on the first day. That they reached 151 and a modicum of respectability was due to wicket-keeper David Williams and Ambrose, the top scorers of the innings with 31 and 30 respectively. Williams added 48 for the eighth wicket with Bishop, then Ambrose took up the fight until Mushtaq Ahmed returned to trap him lbw, his fifth wicket.

Shahid Nazir had provided the early breakthrough, with two wickets in three balls. Mushtaq held the catch at gully that accounted for Lara, before taking over with the ball himself. He was fortunate to earn lbw and bat-pad decisions against Campbell and Hooper, but Simmons and the debutant Lewis were no match for him and both were bowled looking to drive.

After losing Aamir Sohail before darkness fell on the first day, Pakistan prospered on a bright, cold second morning, through a second-wicket partnership of 133 between Saeed Anwar and Ijaz Ahmed. Both were scoring freely until distracted in mid-afternoon by breaks in play, caused by spectators throwing fruit at West Indian fielders. Hooper promptly had Anwar caught behind and then held Ijaz at slip. When Wasim Akram swung wildly at Hooper and was stumped, the score was 207 for five and the tourists were hopeful of limiting Pakistan's advantage.

Those hopes were dashed by Inzamam-ul-haq Haq's battling, unbeaten 92, a pugnacious 58 from wicket-keeper Moin Khan and West Indian generosity in the field. Inzamam batted throughout with a runner after being struck painfully on the left ankle while fielding. He was dropped on five, 32 and 88. But when Walsh returned to claim the last two wickets and figures of five for 78, Inzamam was stranded eight short of a first Test century at home.

Trailing by 230, West Indies again lost Stuart Williams and Chanderpaul quickly. Then Lara glittered brilliantly in the gathering gloom, striking eight fluent boundaries off the spinners in his 36, but he failed to prosper against the faster bowlers the next morning. Dropped in the gully off Wasim, he was lbw to Azhar Mahmood in the next over, having added just one to his overnight score. With him went any realistic hope West Indies might have had of making Pakistan bat again, though Campbell made a patient 66 before becoming one of four victims of Wasim's late in-swingers, all lbw.

Mushtaq earned most of the plaudits, completing a second five-wicket haul for match figures of ten for 106 – even if cynics noted that he bowled in both innings at the end where the local umpire, Said Shah, was presiding. Wasim performed the last rites, dismissing Bishop an hour after lunch.

Man of the Match: Mushtaq Ahmed.

Close of play: First day, Pakistan 14-1 (Saeed Anwar 10*, Ijaz Ahmed, Sen. 0*); Second day, Pakistan 246-5 (Moin Khan 36*, Azhar Mahmood 14*); Third day, West Indies 99-2 (S. L. Campbell 34*, B. C. Lara 36*).

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