West Indies started their ICC World Test Championship campaign in style, registering a thrilling one-wicket win over Pakistan in Jamaica on Sunday.
Kemar Roach (unbeaten 30) and Jayden Seales (2 not out) added 17 runs for the last wicket as West Indies reached the set target of 168 for the loss of nine wickets after bundling out Pakistan for 203 in their second innings, with Seales picking up his maiden five-wicket haul (5/55).
Seales also became the youngest West Indies player to take a fifer in Test cricket, breaking the record set by a 20-year-old Alf Valentine in 1950. Seales is currently 19 years and 340 days old.
Brief scores: Pakistan 217 (Fawad Alam 56; Jason Holder 3/26) & 203 (Babar Azam 55; Jayden Seales 5/55) lost to West Indies 253 (Kraigg Brathwaite 97; Shaheen Afridi 4/59) & 168-9 (Jermaine Blackwood 55; Afridi 4/50) by one wicket.
Both sides next meet on Friday in the second and final Test of the series.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
THE WEST INDIES WIN BY ONE WICKET!
This is Test match cricket. This is the pinnacle of the sport. This is what it means ❤️ pic.twitter.com/qk9s4ZQxm7
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) August 15, 2021
Well done @windiescricket 👏👏!! Bad luck to Pakistan!! It was a wonderful test match 👌👌 #WIvPAK
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) August 15, 2021
Great test match but this one’s going to hurt. Dropped catches have cost Pakistan the game,defending 168,can’t expect to win without taking the half chances. #WIvPAK
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial) August 15, 2021
There's a reason they say.
Catches. Win. Matches!— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) August 15, 2021
What a test match it was…Congratulations to @windiescricket for their top effort fought till the end #PakvWI Hard luck team @TheRealPCB win & lose is a part of game.Good luck for next games.
— Kamran Akmal (@KamiAkmal23) August 16, 2021
The Betway Player of the Match goes to the youngster, Jayden Seales! 🏆#WIvPAK #MenInMaroon pic.twitter.com/5ZcF4alyd5
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) August 15, 2021
WI WIN!!!! 🥳🥳
Don't you just love Test cricket?! 🌴#WIvPAK #MenInMaroon pic.twitter.com/gZTvRbdpzn
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) August 15, 2021
What an incredible Test Match win by West Indies at Sabina Park. The kind of wins you cherish a lifetime . Great to see the manner in which they have registered some of their recent Test wins. Roach was brilliant and what an impressive future lies ahead of young Jayden Seales.
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) August 16, 2021
That is what test cricket is all about. Great battle @windiescricket and @TheRealPCB . It’s appropriate that Kemar Roach and Jayden Seales sealed it. Kemar has said that Seales is one of the most teachable young men he has met. Well done👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) August 15, 2021
Hard luck Team Pakistan. But as for cricket it was an incredible match. cricket truly is an unpredictable game. #pakvswi #TestCricket
— Junaid khan 83 (@JunaidkhanREAL) August 15, 2021
What a test match!! #WIvsPAK
— Shakera Selman (@selman_shakera) August 15, 2021
Test match cricket… ‘alive & kicking’… well done Windies! Entertainmet plus from @TheRealPCB vs @windiescricket 👏🌴😎🏏 #WIvPAK
— Danny Morrison (@SteelyDan66) August 16, 2021
West Indies Test wins by 1 wicket:
v Australia Bridgetown, Barbados 1999
v Pakistan St John's, Antigua 2000
v Pakistan Kingston, Jamaica 2021Just the 15th Test to be won by 1 wicket (all teams)#WIvPAK #WIvsPAK 🏝️
— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) August 15, 2021
The last time West Indies won a Test match by a 1-wicket margin was also against Pakistan in May 2000. Jayden Seales, the No.11 batter in the latest win was not born yet! #WIvPAK
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) August 15, 2021
