Special feature: When the mighty Windies were bowled out for 53

Tags: Cricwaves Columns, Abdul Qadir Khan

Published on: Oct 28, 2012

Although West Indies recently won the World T20, they aren’t the force they once used to be in Test cricket. In the 70’s and 80’s, they literally steamrolled opponents courtesy their mighty bowling line-up and impressive batting talent.

Although West Indies recently won the World T20, they aren’t the force they once used to be in Test cricket. In the 70’s and 80’s, they literally steamrolled opponents courtesy their mighty bowling line-up and impressive batting talent. However, in those days of domination, they had their rare off-days, one of which came during the Faisalabad Test against Pakistan in 1986. Chasing 240 to win, the powerful Windies batting line up collapsed to an embarrassing 53 all-out, their lowest total at that point of time. Here’s a recap of how the match panned out.

Pakistan 1st innings

The home team won the toss and chose to bat. The decision however did not prove too effective. All the West Indian bowlers needed were 38.5 overs to roll over their opponents. The Windies needed only four pacemen to overcome the Pakistan batsmen. Even among then, Tony Gray was making his debut. Gray picked up four wickets in his debut bowling performance, which included the key scalp of opposition skipper Imran Khan, who was the team’s top scorer with 61. Malcolm Marshall and Patrick Patterson picked up five wickets among themselves as Pakistan were bundled out for 159.

West Indies 1st innings

The Windies batsmen couldn’t build on the great start the bowlers gave them in the game, being cleaned up for 248 themselves. A number of their batsmen got starts but no one could go on make that big score. Desmond Haynes got 40, Richie Richardson 54, Larry Gomes 33 and Viv Richards made a 30 plus score as well. Left-arm seamer Wasim Akram was the star performer for Pakistan, scalping six wickets, while the rest did the supporting act well.

Pakistan 2ndinnings

The home side fared better in their second essay, registering a decent total of 328. The innings was built on a number of useful contributions. Saleem Yousuf and Wasim Akram contributed 61 and 66 respectively while Mohsin Khan made 40 and Qasim Umar 48. For West Indies, the wickets were shared between the bowlers; Courtney Walsh being the most successful with three while Malcolm, Roger Harper and Gray snaring two wickets each. Following the end of Pakistan innings, Windies were set a target of 240, a challenging one, but a gettable one nonetheless, especially considering the mighty batting power they possessed back then.

West Indies 2nd innings

Their batting effort in the second innings isn’t what most West Indian greats of that era would like to be reminded of. The lethal combination of spin and pace – read Abdul Qadir and Imran Khan – brought their chase to a screeching halt. While Imran sent back the dangerous opening pair of Haynes-Greenidge cheaply, Qadir ran through the middle-order with unbelievable ease. Richardson, Gomes, Richards and Harper were back in the pavilion in no time, as the mighty West Indians were skittled out for 53 in no time – 25.3 overs to be precise. Qadir finished with amazing figures of 6 for 16.

By A Cricket Analyst

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