West Indies held their nerve as veteran fast bowler Kemar Roach and Jayden Seales guided them to a thrilling one-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Test in Jamaica on Sunday (August 15).

Earlier, Jayden Seales took 5-55, his first five-wicket haul in Tests, as the West Indies dismissed Pakistan for 203 in its second innings.

The hosts then slumped to 16-3 before a half-century by Jermaine Blackwood helped it advance to 111-6.

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Before the tea interval, the match was in the balance when Jason Holder was out to the last ball with the West Indies on 114-7, still 54 runs from victory.

The West Indies looked to have little chance when they lost Joshua da Silva with 26 runs still required and two wickets left. But Roach took up the challenge with a confident batting display.

Seales was full of praise for the batting and bowling efforts, who became the youngest West Indies bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a test innings.

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Shaheen Afridi (4-50) and Hasan Ali (3-37) bowled nearly 34 overs for Pakistan on the last day and shared seven wickets. Hasan produced an outstanding all-round performance, scoring 28 from 26 balls at No. 9 to help Pakistan go past 200 in the second innings before he was the last man out.

He then dismissed Blackwood for 55 to deal a major blow to the home team’s hopes and bowled Holder (16).

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But Hasan was also involved in one of the pivotal moments of the match when he dropped Roach, then on 16, off the bowling of Shaheen. Roach’s pull shot carried directly to Hasan at deep square leg, where a relatively simple catch was put down.

Hasan Ali still had a part to play by dismissing Jomel Warrican to leave the team on 151-9. Warrican tried to pull a short delivery, but the ball hit the top edge. Keeper Mohammad Rizwan turned and dashed backward, almost to the boundary where he took a diving catch as the ball came above his shoulder.

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Roach batted on with unbreakable determination to eke out every run. With six runs needed, he edged a ball between the wicketkeeper and first slip which just eluded Rizwan’s despairing dive.

He then confidently struck a ball from Shaheen, wide of off stump, through cover for the winning runs.

Speaking to the media, Pakistan captain Babar Azam said the “nail-biting” match showed the beauty of Test cricket.

“The bowlers then restricted them before our bowlers took the wickets,” Azam said.