3rd Test: Chase and Holder dig in to defy Pakistan

Published
21
Babar Azam avoids a cover shot from Roston Chase on the fifth days play of the final test match. —AFP
Babar Azam avoids a cover shot from Roston Chase on the fifth days play of the final test match. —AFP
Younis Khan and Babar Azam try to stop a shot from Vishaul Singh. — AFP
Younis Khan and Babar Azam try to stop a shot from Vishaul Singh. — AFP

An unbroken 53-run seventh-wicket partnership between Roston Chase and Jason Holder frustrated Pakistan's push for a series-clinching victory with the West Indies holding on at 146 for six at tea on the last day of the third and final Test at Windsor Park in Dominica on Sunday.

Set an improbable target of 304 and starting the final day at seven for one, all looked lost for the home side when Shane Dowrich became Yasir Shah's fourth wicket of the innings to make the score 93 for six in mid-afternoon.

However, Chase, the leading run-scorer on both sides in the series, found a resilient partner in Holder on the way to his fourth score in excess of 50 in the series. He will resume on 66 in the final session of the match with the West Indies captain on 22.

With as much as two-and-a-half hours' play still available and the hosts' tail-enders not expected to offer substantial resistance, Pakistan remain favoured to give the retiring pair of captain Misbah ul Haq and senior batsman Younis Khan an historic farewell unless Chase and Holder can extend their partnership deep into the last period of play.

Pakistan have yet to win a Test series in the West Indies after seven previous tours dating back to 1958. Resuming after lunch at 73 for four, a swift end to the match looked likely as Vishaul Singh and Dowrich both fell to Shah, lifting the leg-spinner's wicket tally in the series to 24, equalling his previous best effort which was achieved against Sri Lanka.

Both were taken at short-leg by Babar Azam and on a pitch offering turn and bounce, it appeared only a matter of time before more wickets fell.

But Chase and Holder batted with calm assurance for over an hour as the Pakistanis grew increasingly impatient in pursuit of the breakthrough.

Such anxieties appeared unlikely at the start of the day.

Having already lost the wicket of Kieran Powell overnight, the home side suffered two further setbacks inside the first hour of the morning.

Kraigg Brathwaite's poor run of form continued when the opening batsman miscued an attempted cut off Shah for Hasan Ali to take the comfortable catch at backward-point while Shimron Hetmyer batted positively for 25 but was then comprehensively bowled by Mohammad Amir for the third time in the series.

Chase, the first innings top-scorer, then joined Shai Hope with the pair defying all the challenges presented to them by the Pakistani attack until Hasan Ali got the breakthrough and his first Test wicket 20 minutes before lunch, trapping Hope leg-before with a full-length inswinger.

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