Jason Holder and Jayden Seales each took three wickets as the West Indies bowled Pakistan out for 217 on the first day of the Betway Test match against Pakistan at Sabina Park on Thursday (August 12).

However, Pakistan struck back immediately as Mohammed Abbas took the wickets of opener Kieran Powell and Nkrumah Bonner with consecutive deliveries to have the West Indies two wickets down with just two runs on the board at stumps.

Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss sent Pakistan to bat and his bowlers justified his decision as Jayden Seales and Kemar Roach combined to reduce Pakistan to 68-4 inside 33 overs.

Roach took the first wicket to fall with the score at 21 when he bowled Imran Butt for 11. Eight balls later it was 21-2 when Abid Ali edged Seales to wicketkeeper Joshua Da Silva and was out for 9.

Ahzar Ali and Captain Babar Azam set about repairing the damage with a stand of 47 for the third wicket. However, with the score at 68, Ali was caught by Jason Holder for 17 giving Seales his second wicket of the match. Sixty-eight for three was soon 68-4 when Roach had Azam caught behind for 30.

Fawad Alam and Mohammad Rizwan took the score to 101 when Rizwan was dismissed by Holder for 23. Fawad and Faheem Asraf then stitched together a partnership of 85 that took the score to 186 when the partnership was broken with the run out of Asraf for 44 as Pakistan slipped to 190-7.

Seales dismissed Hassan Ali for 14 and Holder returned to bowl Fawad for 56 and Mohammad Abbas as Pakistan lost their last three wickets with the score at 217.

Holder was the best of the bowlers, finishing with figures of 3-26.

He said the wicket was not as bowler-friendly as it might have seemed.

“Bowled a few balls in the transition to get myself in the rhythm. The wicket was quite slow, slower than I expected, so well fuller and wanted to make them play as much as possible,” he said.

“We would’ve taken 217 at the start.”

He said the West Indies batsmen have to be wary of the Pakistan bowlers.

“Our batsmen just need application. They (Pakistan bowlers) will extract from this surface. Faheem and Fawad put on a good partnership, one positive we can take from them.”

Seales had figures of 3-70 while Roach took 2-47.

The West Indies would have prided themselves on a good day in the field until Abbas’ strikes jolted them back to reality.