Cricket Highlights, 08 Mar: PAK vs AUS (1st Test – Day 5), WI vs ENG (1st Test – Day 1)

The 5th day of the 1st Test between Pakistan and Australia and the 1st day of the 1st Test between West Indies and England rolled on the field yesterday. Continue reading the article to know the interesting happenings of the day’s games.

PAK vs AUS (1st Test – Day 5)

The Australian cricket team, which lost 7 wickets for 449 runs at the end of the fourth day, came on the field in the morning of the fifth day with Mitchell Starc (12*) and captain Pat Cummins (4*) at the crease. But the Aussies lost the last three wickets just to add 10 runs to the scoreboard due to the aggressive bowling of the Pakistani fast bowlers and spinners. For Pakistan, Nauman Ali took the maximum number of 6 wickets, Shaheen Afridi took 2 wickets and Naseem Shah and Sajid Khan took 1 wicket each.

Batting in their second innings with a 17-run lead, Pakistan finished the fifth day with 252 runs for the loss of no wickets. As a result, this match of the scoring festival has been drawn as expected. Both Pakistan openers scored centuries in the second innings. Abdullah Shafique (136) and Imam-ul-Haq (111) remained unbeaten with the bat.

Imam-ul-Haq was named Player of the Match for his innings of 157 in the 1st innings and an unbeaten 111 in the 2nd innings. The two teams will meet in the second Test of the series on March 12 at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Scoreboard:
Pakistan (1st Innings) – 476/4 (D) (162.0)
Australia (1st Innings) – 459/10 (140.1)
Pakistan (2nd Innings) – 252/0 (77.0)
Result – Match Drawn
Player of the match – Imam-ul-Haq

At the end of the first day, Jonny Bairstow’s superb century helped England to collect 268 runs after losing six wickets over the host West Indies in the Antigua’s Test. England won the toss and elected to bat at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, they lost two openers soon after scoring 17 runs. Debutants Alex Lees (4) and Zak Crawley (8) returned to the dressing room cheaply.

After 10 runs, when the captain Joe Root (13) made his way back to the dressing room, the visitors fell into an extreme crisis. After that, Dan Lawrence, who was settled on the wicket, also returned to the pavilion with 20 runs. As a result, England’s score was 48 runs for 4 wickets. From there, Bairstow overcame the danger with a 67-run stand for the fifth wicket with Ben Stokes.

But when Stokes was bowled by Jayden Seales for 36 runs, the visitors might get scared of being wrapped up soon. However, Bairstow did not give up. He made another 99-run stand with Ben Foakes for the sixth wicket to turn the team around. Foakes fell victim to Jason Holder’s lbw for 42 runs. Bairstow did not make a mistake picking up his century.

Bairstow spent the rest of the day with Chris Woakes playing carefully. He is unbeaten on 109 runs scoring the eighth Test century of his career. Woakes is unbeaten on 24 runs. Among the West Indies’ three fast bowlers, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, and Jason Holder took two wickets each.

Scoreboard:
England (1st Innings) – 268/6 (86.0)