It’s a rare occasion in Test cricket that aside wins a match by one wicket. But whatever little amount of people that were available in the limited seating capacity of the Sabina Park at Kingston, Jamaica, they will surely remember the one-wicket win of the West Indies over Pakistan for the rest of their lives.
Fast bowler Kemar Roach was the most unlikely hero with the bat for the home team, scoring an unbeaten 30 off 52 balls to guide them home in a chase of 168 in the fourth innings. He stitched together an unbeaten 17 run partnership with number 10 Jayden Seales to reach the total and maintain West Indies’ record of successful chases of targets below 200.
Chasing 168, after getting Pakistan bundled out for 203 in their second essay thanks to Seales’ historic five-wicket haul, where he became the youngest West Indian t achieve the feat at 19 years of age, Windies didn’t really have a good start. Shaheen Afridi was spitting fire on that Jamiac wicket and removed the top three batters for just 16 runs on the board.
Jermaine Blackwood and Roston chase then steadied the ship and got a partnership going to fuel the hopes of Men in Maroon of chasing the total down. The duo added 68 for the fourth wicket before Chase was removed by Faheem Ashraf. Kyle Mayers couldn’t do much either and was forced to register a pair after being caught at the slips for nought of another Ashraf delivery.
Just as things started to look bright again with a 19 run stand between Blackwood and Jason Holder with the former picking up his 15th Test fifty, Hasan Ali struck and removed him. Soon, Holder was removed as well and Windies were staring at defeat with 54 runs still to get and new batters in Joshua Da Silva and Roch at the crease.
The pair added 28 for the eighth wicket and gave hope to the Windies team. However, Da Silva was removed by Shaheen Afridi and then Mohammad Rizwan took an outstanding catch to send Jomel Warrican back to the pavilion with Windies still requiring 17 and that’s when Seales joined Roach and in legendary commentator, Ian Bishop’s words, “The teacher and his student led the Windies to a famous win”.
This is the third occasion in 84 Tests in the last 12 years where a team has won a Test by one wicket and although it can’t be compared with the heroics of Ben Stokes to win the Headingley Test of the Ashes of 2019, this one is surely up there somewhere when it comes to thrilling test wins.
Seales was awarded Man of the Match for his eight wickets and crucial stand with Roach at the end. The two teams will now once again be up against each other from August 20 for the second and final Test of the series at the same venue.