Rutherford blitz, Chase’s control hands West Indies series-levelling win

Aug 11, 2025 Sports

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(ESPN Cricinfo) – West Indies overcame Pakistan’s spinners as well as the weather to power home by five wickets to level the series 1-1. In a chase which ebbed and flowed, a blitz from Sherfane Rutherford and a controlled innings at the death by Roston Chase saw them home with two overs to spare. Their task was made significantly harder than it might have been when Jayden Seales’ standout fast-bowling performance had restricted Pakistan to 171 for 7 in 37 overs. The target was slightly upwards owing to multiple rain delays in the first innings.

Pakistan were put in to bat first and played stodgy cricket inconsistent with the decade they were playing it in. Abdullah Shafique and Saim Ayub found the occasional Powerplay boundary but interspersed it with strings of dot deliveries; the first ten overs saw just five singles taken. When extra pace and canny field placement extracted an outside edge from Ayub in the ninth over, it was the ninth successive ball the left-hander had faced which had not produced a run. Three balls later, Babar Azam was cleaned up by a Seales special that burst through the gate and made a mess of his stumps, and put West Indies firmly on top.

It brought Mohammad Rizwan out, but he appeared to have left positivity behind in the dressing room – he scored just 4 off his first 23 deliveries. A shower that delayed play by 90 minutes did not help Pakistan find their rhythm. Jediah Blades took his maiden ODI wicket by drawing an edge from Shafique that ended his battle of an innings the over after play resumed.

As run-scoring became an increasing struggle, West Indies’ spinners and seamers alike kept making inroads. Gudakesh Motie trapped the Pakistan captain in front. Roston Chase got a ball to keep low and produce an under edge off Hussain Talat’s bat to conclude his comparatively brighter innings. Salman Ali Agha struggled to see any scoring area beside the little dab to deep third, and when Shamar Joseph surprised him with the straighter bouncer, a top edge sent him packing.

A further rain delay truncated the game to Pakistan’s benefit with the innings winding down, allowing Hasan Nawaz to go for broke in what became seven death overs. Cruelly for Pakistan, though, that stubborn cloud unloaded its contents upon the Brian Lara Stadium once more just as he had begun to get going. That little passage of play saw 32 scored in 3.1 overs, but Pakistan were denied a big finish with their final three overs wiped out.

West Indies were set an entirely manageable 181 in 35 overs, though Hasan Ali’s opening salvo soon cast that expectation into jeopardy. Wickets in each of his first two overs sent the openers back, and the hosts found themselves stuck in the same mire that dogged Pakistan. Rizwan, sensing an opportunity to strangle, brought the spinners in after six overs, with Mohammad Nawaz and Abrar Ahmed producing the desired results.

The scoring rate briefly slowed to a trickle, particularly as far as Keacy Carty was concerned. His first 26 balls produced just three singles, piling the pressure on his captain at the other end. An intriguing plot point concerned Pakistan’s fifth bowling option; the one over Ayub had bowled leaked 10, and another from Agha shed another 11.

With a newly arrived Rutherford and the asking rate over six, Rizwan made the fateful decision of turning to Shaheen Afridi, and the batter picked his moment. Two fours and a six saw him plunder 17 that over, and with Rizwan turning immediately to the part-time Agha, another 20 were lopped off the target.

It bought West Indies the cushion to see off the primary spinners Abrar and Mohammad Nawaz more respectfully, but the pair weren’t content with containment. Nawaz found extra turn to have Hope stumped before, in what felt like a game turning moment, he induced Rutherford into a smear that found square leg. It was part of an eight-over period that saw just 17 scored, but just as significantly, Pakistan had bowled out Nawaz. Chase slapped a couple of sixes the following Ayub over to wrench the asking rate below six once more, and it was there that it would stay for the rest of the game.

The returning fast bowlers never packed the same threat, and West Indies began to milk them in addition to finding the odd boundary that took the game further out of the visitors’ reach. Justin Greaves had looked uncertain against the turn, but was impressively assured now, a wristy flick over mid-on for six off Hasan Ali perhaps the shot of the innings. By now, the equation was purely mathematical, With Chase’s crisp drive through the offside sealing a topsy-turvy win on a day that promised each outcome at a certain point, before settling on the one the Trinidad crowd had come to witness.

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• Pakistan cricket, Roston Chase, Sherfane Rutherford, West Indies

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