KRAIGG Brathwaite will spend a night in the nervous nineties after leading West Indies’ fightback against Pakistan in the third Test in Sharjah yesterday. Replying to Pakistan’s 281 all out in the United Arab Emirates, the Windies were in trouble at 68-4, but the watchful Brathwaite anchored a revival to steer his team to 244-6 at stumps on day two, the opener ending the day 95 not out alongside captain Jason Holder (6 no).
His team still trailing Pakistan by 37, Brathwaite will hope to reach a deserved century and make further inroads as the Caribbean side seek to avoid a 3-0 series whitewash.
Phil Simmons’ team, the designated visitors in the contest on neutral territory, made a bad start to their first innings, as Wahab Riaz (2-65) struck to remove Leon Johnson (1) lbw in the fourth over, a dismissal that prompted the West Indies’ top order to flounder early in their reply.
Zulfiqar Babar (1-45) tempted Darren Bravo (11) to try and clear mid-off, but he succeeded only in slicing the ball to cover, where a diving Mohammad Amir took an acrobatic first catch in Test cricket.
Marlon Samuels was trapped lbw by Yasir Shah (1-56) for a duck three overs later.
Jermaine Blackwood got a start but failed to build on his 23, some poor footwork seeing him slice Amir (2-44) to Asad Shafiq at gully while attempting a drive.
Roston Chase and surviving opener Brathwaite came together to mount some resistance, putting on 83 for the fifth wicket.
Chase reached 50 but progressed no further, Amir’s angled delivery eliciting an outside edge taken at slip by Younis Khan.
Shane Dowrich picked up where Chase left off by providing strong support for Brathwaite in another 83-run stand. He survived being dropped on 15 but fell just short of a half century of his own, out for 47 when he chopped Wahab onto his stumps.
The same fate had befallen Pakistan’s tail-enders earlier in the day. Resuming on 255-8, they added a further 26 runs. Alzarri Joseph (2-57) did the damage, as length balls caused both Amir (20) and Yasir (12) to drag onto their own stumps.

PAKISTAN 1st innings (Overnight: 255-8)
S. Aslam c Holder b Bishoo 74
Az. Ali c K. Brathwaite b Gabriel 0
A. Shafiq lbw b Gabriel 0
Y. Khan c Johnson b Chase 51
Misbah-ul-Haq c Dowrich b Bishoo 53
S. Ahmed b Gabriel 51
M. Nawaz st Dowrich b Bishoo 6
W. Riaz lbw b Bishoo 4
Y. Shah b Joseph 12
M. Amir b Joseph 20
Z. Babar not out 1
Extras (lb-4 nb-4 w-1) 9
Total (all out, 90.5 overs) 281
Fall of wickets: 1-1 Az. Ali,2-1 A. Shafiq,3-107 Y. Khan,4-150 S. Aslam,5-230 Misbah-ul-Haq,6-242 M. Nawaz,7-248 S. Ahmed,8-248 W. Riaz,9-280 M. Amir,10-281 Y. Shah
Bowling: S. Gabriel 21 – 1 – 67 – 3(nb-2), A. Joseph 16.5 – 5 – 57 – 2(nb-2 w-1),
J. Holder 12 – 4 – 29 – 0, R. Chase 20 – 5 – 47 – 1, D. Bishoo 21 – 3 – 77 – 4.
WEST INDIES 1st innings
K. Brathwaite not out 95
L. Johnson lbw b Riaz 1
Da. Bravo c Amir b Babar 11
M. Samuels lbw b Shah 0
J. Blackwood c Shafiq b Amir 23
R. Chase c Y. Khan b Amir 50
S. Dowrich b Riaz 47
J. Holder not out 6
Extras (lb-6 nb-5) 11
Total (for 6 wickets, 78 overs) 244
Fall of wickets: 1-6 L. Johnson,2-32 Da. Bravo,3-38 M. Samuels,4-68 J. Blackwood,5-151 R. Chase,6-234 S. Dowrich
To bat: D. Bishoo, S. Gabriel, A. Joseph
Bowling: M. Amir 17 – 4 – 44 – 2(nb-2), W. Riaz 16 – 0 – 65 – 2(nb-3)
Y. Shah 18 – 2 – 56 – 1, Z. Babar 17 – 3 – 45 – 1 , M. Nawaz 4 – 0 – 12 – 0,
Az. Ali 6 – 0 – 16 – 0.