Close Pakistan 230 for 5 (Yousuf Youhana 78*, Rashid Latif 27*)
scorecard

The two dozen or so people who braved the (heating) elements and made it to the Sharjah Cricket Stadium got little value for money as Pakistan meandered their way through the opening day of the home-from-home Test against the West Indies. Ninety years after Australia and South Africa set the precedent for playing on neutral turf in England came the first Test match to be played at cricket's desert (and almost deserted) outpost.

Apart from a brief flurry of activity after lunch and some attacking strokes just before the close, the entertainment on offer was pretty dire. In fact, the spectators would have been better off watching Leicester City play football. If this was intended as an exercise to promote Test cricket, both teams - especially Pakistan after winning a plum toss - went a long way towards flunking the test.

Yousuf Youhana, unbeaten on 78 at the close, gave the few diehards something to cheer with another innings that oozed class, though he too was guilty of keeping his foot off the accelerator. Some of his cover-drives and punches down the ground were to die for, and his steadying presence at the crease gave some stability to an innings that was heading towards skid row at 94 for 4.

After Waqar Younis had elected to bat first in the city where he spent much of his childhood, Pakistan's batsmen gave a two-hour promotion for Milan Kundera's Slowness - but with none of the charm - as they plodded to 45 for 2 at lunch. The slow pitch prepared by Mohammad Bashir, the Lahore groundsman, had "bat first" written all over it but Pakistan got anything but the perfect start when Naved Latif was trapped plumb in front for a debut duck by Mervyn Dillon (3 for 1).

West Indies had to wait until the fag-end of the session for a second wicket, and it came courtesy of Carl Hooper's apparently innocuous offbreaks. Taufeeq Umar, who had laboured almost two hours for his 28, attempted to cut a ball that was far too close to his body, and inside-edged onto his wicket (45 for 2).

Dillon, Pedro Collins and Cameron Cuffy bowled with admirable discipline, although there was no hint of a cutting edge that might worry the batsmen watching from the players' enclosure. For their part, Younis Khan and Umar showed the initiative of Rip van Winkle. Taufeeq played one sparkling on-drive and another timed beautifully through the covers, but apart from that, stonewalling was the name of the game. Younis, fortunate that Collins couldn't latch on to a return catch early in his innings, was no better and the sparse crowd would have been best served bringing their pillows along.

The scoreboard operators were finally given some work after lunch. Younis got the ball rolling with a couple of punched strokes off his pads and a sweetly timed shot down the ground. Inzamam eased into proceedings with a nudge or two through midwicket as Dillon copped some stick.

The good work was undone by a moment of madness from Inzamam. Perhaps frustrated by the slowish pitch, he threw his considerable weight at a wide delivery from Dillon, and watched the resulting edge go through to Ridley Jacobs. Pakistan's man mountain was gone for just 10 (80 for 3) and a couple of brownie points for application had been lost in the process.

Younis cruised to fifty with a superb off-drive and then threw it away in cavalier fashion. Hooper, who did little but drift the ball in all afternoon, pitched one on the stumps and Younis chopped it hard towards Chris Gayle at first slip. Gayle kept his composure and pouched a blinder (94 for 4).

Youhana played some sumptuous strokes through the offside, including a classical cover drive that was the shot of the day, while Razzaq chanced his arm a few times against Hooper as Pakistan built again from the ruins. The 84-run partnership was ended by an act of desperation - or maybe inspiration - from Hooper. Tossing the ball to Wavell Hinds, he watched as a wide, slow-medium lollipop produced an unlikely breakthrough. Abdur Razzaq went after it like a tennis player chasing down a forehand gave Jacobs another straightforward catch behind the stumps (178 for 5).

Rashid Latif took full advantage of Hooper's reluctance to field a third man as play wound to a close. Cuffy fluffed a difficult chance at mid-on off Dillon with ten minutes to go and Youhana celebrated the reprieve with a big six over deep square-leg. Latif finished the day with two spanking fours off Collins and with these two at the crease, Pakistan can train their sights once more on a total in excess of 300.

Teams
Pakistan 1 Taufeeq Umar, 2 Naved Latif, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Inzamam-ul Haq, 5 Yousuf Youhana, 6 Abdur Razzaq, 7 Rashid Latif (wk), 8 Waqar Younis (capt), 9 Saqlain Mushtaq, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Danish Kaneria.

West Indies 1 Daren Ganga, 2 Sherwin Campbell, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Carl Hooper (capt), 6 Wavell Hinds, 7 Ryan Hinds, 8 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 9 Mervyn Dillon, 10 Cameron Cuffy, 11 Pedro Collins.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com India.

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