Pakistan 493 and 214 for 6 dec beat West Indies 366 and 171 (Gayle 66, Shoaib Akhtar 5 for 24) by 170 runs
scorecard

A devastating spell of old-ball bowling by Shoaib Akhtar and Abdur Razzaq triggered the collapse of the West Indies on the final day of the first Test at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Shoaib finished with a career-best 5 for 24 and Razzaq 4 for 24 to inspire Pakistan to a handsome 170-run victory, giving them a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. Chasing 342 to win, the West Indies were skittled for 171 in the equivalent of two sessions.

The fact that nine wickets fell post-lunch for just 60 runs speaks for itself. Of these, the last seven fell for 25. It was a case of déjà vu: in the first innings the last five wickets had added just 14.

Shoaib's haul was rightly adjudged Man of the Match, but Razzaq was not far behind, and both bowlers found themselves on a hat-trick. On a day when the spinners were expected to dominate, these two pacemen bowled Pakistan to an emphatic win.

It hadn't seemed so inevitable at lunch. West Indies had added 111 runs in the morning session, for the loss of only Daren Ganga, bowled through the gate by Shoaib for 34 (76 for 1). Gayle was on 62 at the interval, most of his runs coming through boundaries: he hit 14 of them. But runs came more in sudden spurts than a steady trickle, most notably a sequence of five consecutive boundaries by Gayle, four of them off Danish Kaneria, one off Shoaib.

But Shoaib struck shortly after lunch, removing Gayle for 66 (115 for 2). Bowling round the wicket, he angled one in and Gayle was beaten by pace; he was rattled, and so was his off stump.

Wavell Hinds was next. Trying to fend off a vicious bouncer, Hinds, on 8, could only get a glove on it, and Rashid Latif gratefully palmed what, for him, was a historic dismissal: his 100th in Test cricket (125 for 3).

The collapse continued in controversial fashion, when Sherwin Campbell, on 20, was adjudged run out by the third umpire, Mian Mohammad Aslam. Carl Hooper played a delivery from Kaneria towards backward point and set off for a quick single. Campbell charged headlong towards the crease and as Naved Latif's throw came in to Rashid Latif, replays showed that he had made his ground. Mr Aslam thought otherwise and the score was 146 for 4.

Abdur Razzaq then got in on the act. Finding considerable seam movement, he induced Shivnarine Chanderpaul to edge one to Latif (149 for 5). Chanderpaul was out for a duck, the first of four in the innings.

Hooper was next, caught plumb in front by Razzaq, for an unlucky 13 (150 for 6). Another lbw decision came Razzaq's way off the very next delivery, but this one was somewhat dubious: Ridley Jacobs was struck on the pads by a ball pitching just outside leg, but having already got hooked to the habit, umpire Riazuddin was quick to raise the finger (150 for 7).

Razzaq couldn't complete his hat-trick, but Shoaib soon set himself up for one, when he bowled Mervyn Dillon and Cameron Cuffy with consecutive deliveries (155 for 9). Pedro Collins and Ryan Hinds delayed the inevitable for a while – Collins even slogged three boundaries – but Razzaq wrapped it up by crashing through Collins's gate, to grant Pakistan a win in the first-ever Test match at Sharjah.

Nagraj Gollapudi is sub editor of Wisden.com India.

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