Greaves’ first Test five-for and a 14-wicket day leave West Indies 155 ahead in Tarouba

Fourteen wickets fell on the third day of the first Test at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, and the match is no closer to settling down. West Indies closed on 126 for 7 in their second innings, 155 runs in front, after Justin Greaves had cut through Pakistan’s lower order and Mohammad Abbas had answered with a spell of 3 for 14.

Play resumes at 7.30pm IST on Tuesday. Pakistan need three wickets, and then a fourth-innings chase on a surface that has kept the seamers interested since the first morning.

Masood’s hundred, then seven for 41

Pakistan resumed on 199 for 3 with Shan Masood 88 not out. He reached his century off 163 balls and was still there at drinks, when Pakistan were 241 for 3 and the first-innings deficit had shrunk to 70.

They were bowled out for 282. Seven wickets went down for 41 runs in 19 overs, and Greaves took five of them. Salman Agha was bowled by Shamar Joseph for 20, Masood chopped Greaves on for 109, and Mohammad Rizwan, Aamer Jamal, Ali Usman and Mohammad Abbas made 15 between them.

Greaves finished with 5 for 27 from 11 overs, six of which were maidens. It was the first five-wicket haul of his Test career, which is a slightly odd thing to say about a man who has also made a Test double hundred, but he has spent most of his time in this side as a fourth seam option rather than a strike bowler.

The platform Pakistan wasted was a good one. Imam-ul-Haq made 63 and put on 155 for the second wicket with Masood after Azan Awais had been bowled by Kemar Roach in the third over. Khurram Shahzad’s 19 from number nine was the only score of substance after Masood fell, and it mattered more than it looked, because it dragged the deficit down to 29.

There was a subplot running underneath all of it. Masood was Pakistan’s Test captain until the PCB replaced him with Babar Azam earlier this month, and this was Babar’s first match back in charge. Babar made 23. Masood made the hundred.

Abbas turns it again

West Indies had 20 minutes of comfort and no more. Abbas had Brandon King caught behind for 5 and Kavem Hodge caught behind for a three-ball duck within three deliveries of each other, and the second innings was 7 for 2.

Amir Jangoo fell to a return catch off Mohammad Ali for 4. Shai Hope, who had made 92 in the first innings, tried to counter and was bowled by Khurram Shahzad for 10. That was 43 for 4, and the lead was 72.

Tagenarine Chanderpaul dug in for 35 from 101 balls before Aamer Jamal found him, Greaves made 20, and Roston Chase was caught behind off Khurram Shahzad for 8. At 93 for 7 the lead was 122 and Pakistan had the evening in their hands.

Shamar Joseph then hit three sixes in 13 balls. He is 22 not out, Roach has 5 from 34 balls, and their unbroken stand of 33 has pushed the lead past 150. Abbas bowled 13 overs for 14 runs with six maidens, which on a day of 14 wickets was the most controlled spell either side produced.

What Pakistan are actually chasing

Nothing in this match has looked comfortable. West Indies took nearly 99 overs to make 311, Pakistan used 80 to reach 282, and then the third day threw up 14 wickets in 75 overs of cricket. A target in the 160s or 170s on this pitch, against Roach, Joseph and Jayden Seales with a new ball, is not a formality.

It matters beyond this scoreboard too. Both teams came into the series near the bottom of the World Test Championship table, West Indies eighth and Pakistan ninth, each with a single win in the current cycle. Pakistan’s only Test series win in the Caribbean came in 2017, and they drew the 2021 tour 1-1. The second and final Test starts at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain on 2 August.

Stay across the Tarouba Test and the rest of the day’s cricket