Hodge leads West Indies’ progress on truncated first day

Kavem Hodge’s fourth half-century put West Indies in a position of command at the end of the first day in Trinidad.

On a truncated day owing to a two-hour rain delay either side of the lunch break, Hodge scored an unbeaten 83, stringing together partnerships with Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Shai Hope as West Indies assembled a gritty 194 for the loss of three wickets.

That fourth-wicket stand remains unbroken at 88, with Hope playing an able second fiddle as play was called off after 67 overs owing to bad light.

The game began with Pakistan on top in the morning session, where only 14.1 overs were possible as West Indies found run-scoring exceptionally tricky, managing just 23.

The hosts won the toss and elected to bat at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, which is hosting its first Test match. Both teams observed a minute of silence before the start of the game to mark the passing of Sir Garfield Sobers last week, with the West Indies and match umpires wearing black armbands.

Right from the start, Mohammad Abbas was at his unerring best, settling into a fourth-stump line West Indies did little to sway him from.

Five of his seven overs in the session were maidens, with the bowler finally making the pressure tell when King attempted to break the shackles by cutting one that was too close to his body, and chopping on in the process.

But the skies overhead, which were sunny at the toss, began to darken ominously in the last half hour of play. After 14 overs, the rain began to fall, and only grew heavier once the players came off, forcing the sides into an early lunch.

Pakistan continued to cause problems through the middle session, aided by a pitch that appeared to have livened up with the extra moisture.

Despite the extra sideways movement, though, West Indies were positive from the outset of the resumption.

Hodge hit 14 runs off Abbas’s first two return overs, and continued to pick off boundaries as the partnership inched past 50.

With more encouragement for seam than spin, Babar Azam took Ali Usman off after an over and threw Jamal the ball. It paid dividends in his first over as Chanderpaul poked at one outside off to give Salman Agha a straightforward second slip catch.

However, Jamal’s accuracy tailed off thereafter, and it was the metronomic Abbas again that Pakistan turned to.

Rizwan moved up the stumps to stop Jangoo venturing out, and the uncertainty that caused led him to play all around a straight one.

The umpire initially turned down the appeal, but a late review produced three reds.

It was a moment when the hosts appeared to wobble most at 106 for 3, but Hodge stood stubbornly between Pakistan and a position of true command.

He kept the scoreboard ticking over and found a way to shut out the more accurate Abbas and Mohammad Ali, while picking off Jamal and Pakistan’s debutant spinner Ali Usman.

It was a punch off Usman that penetrated the covers for a boundary that gave Hodge his half-century, his steely raise of the bat making clear he understood the job wasn’t done.

The final session turned into something of a grind, with Hodge and Hope showing they were up for the challenge.

Pakistan never really let the wheels come off, continuing to probe, but the support the conditions had offered them earlier began to recede, as, consequently, did the wicket-taking threat.

Babar found himself continuing to need to turn to Abbas and Ali, who the batters had the discipline to treat with the requisite respect.

Not a single boundary was scored in the final session before the light began to fade, but both sides appeared to understand the battle for control of the game would invariably extend to the following day.

A stalemate descended upon the dying passages of play, with the hosts having edged Pakistan, who were aware the had not let the day slip decisively away.