Smith again succumbs to ‘Hafeezophobia’ to leave opening Test intriguingly poised

May 14, 2011 Sports

---

Saeed Ajmal dismisses Kemar Roach to complete his five-for.

By Sean Devers at Providence

Even as Chairman of Selectors Clyde Butts tried to justify on radio the shocking selection of a batsman dismissed six consecutive times in his last six innings in the same manner against the same bowler, Devon Smith again succumbed to a serious infliction of ‘Hafeezophobia’ at the Providence Stadium yesterday.
The left-handed Grenadian has been trapped LBW five times and bowled in the first innings here by Pakistan off-spinner Mohammed Hafeez starting from the World Cup Quarter-finals.
When Smith walked out to open the West Indies second innings yesterday Butts must have been among the very few expecting him to survive for long, based on recent events and knowledge of cricket. Not surprisingly, Smith’s nightmares against Hafeez continued as he was leg before for one off the first ball from Hafeez, who again opened the bowling.
The shell-shocked looking batsman did not even bother to call for a referral although TV replays showed the ball would have just clipped the leg-stump.
Smith’s early demise left the West Indies on 3-1 and when first innings tormentor Saeed Ajmal removed Darren Bravo (8) in fading light, 20 runs later, Pakistan were back in the game after West Indies were in control after dismissing the visitors for 160 to take a 66-run first innings lead.
Lendl Simmons (18*) again looked the most assured of the West Indies batsmen on a track with variable bounce and plenty of assistance for the spinners while night watchman Kemar Roach, who was last dismissed for 24 in the West Indies first innings was with him on three.
The first innings lead could prove valuable today as the hosts, who were dismissed 28 minutes into yesterday’s play for 226 after resuming on 209-9, look to put enough runs on the board to set up their first win in 17 Test since their victory against England two years ago.
At 34-2, the lead is exactly 100 and the senior batsmen, especially Ramnaresh Sarwan, whose place in the side could also be under the gun with Marlon Samuels waiting in the wings, will need to dig deep mentally against the wiles of Ajmal and company to give their bowlers a victory target.
After making an unbeaten 14 in his first innings at this level, Bishoo grabbed 4-68 from 25 impressive overs to fall one wicket short of joining Alf Valentine and Nehemiah Perry as the only West Indian spinners to take a five-wicket haul on debut. Ravi Rampaul bowled with pace and control to take 3-37.
But the biggest satisfaction for Coach Otis Gibson could have been the controlled spell of Skipper Darren Sammy who utilized the overcast conditions and favourable pitch to take 2-16 in an important spell after Lunch after Pakistan had reached 41-1 at the interval.
After Rampaul bowled the in-form Hafeez off the under edge for four at 5-1 Taufeeq Umar and the free-flowing Azhar Ali repaired the damage with sensible batting.
Sammy, struggling with both bat and ball since his elevation to Captaincy separated the pair when he removed Umar (19) at 57-2 while Bishoo, watched by a small crowd of mostly school children, had his first Test wicket when Skipper Misbah Ul Haq (2) was leg before at 60-3.
Sammy, the last West Indian to take five wickets on debut when he had 7-66 against England in 2007, produced a beauty which Ali (34) played no shot to and had his off stump spectacularly knocked out at 62-4.
It was soon 66-5 when Bishoo got rid of Asad Shafiq (2) and although the dashing Umar Akmal and all-rounder Abdur Rehman took Pakistan to Tea at 113-6, the West Indies, with just three series wins since they whipped Sri Lanka in 2003, were in charge in their own back yard.
Bishoo removed Mohammed Salman for four at 80-6 and 50 runs later, just when he was looking ominous, Akmal top-edged a pull off the leg-spinner for Keeper Carlton Baugh to hold the skied offering as Pakistan slipped to 130-7.
Umar Gul (1) and Ajmal (1) quickly perished to Rampaul before a fighting last wicket stand of 19 between Rehman and Wahab Riaz (5) took their team past 150. Kemar Roach, who was inconsistent with the new ball, polished off the innings to put West Indies in the driver’s seat.
West Indian fingers were crossed when Smith took guard against his nemesis Hafeez but not even hope could save him from another failure, while the dismissal of Bravo meant that 11 of the 12 West Indians wickets to fall perished to spin in conditions that Butts and his panel surprisingly felt did not require a second spinner in the home team, especially the one selected had never played at that level before.
With Simmons at the crease and Sarwan, Chanderpaul and Nash still to bat, West Indies are still in a strong position to force for a rare win.
However, the Ajmal-led Pakistan attack, which includes the dangerous Gul, will have other ideas as the match is intriguingly poised heading into the third day today.

---

---