Sawt Falasteen - Hodge, Hope give West Indies edge in rain-impacted Pakistan Test

Test cricket's newest venue – the 13th in the Caribbean – offered a pitch which made free scoring difficult while the tourists' seam-based attack lacked the necessary firepower to compensate for the turgid surface.

Hodge displayed the necessary application in four hours at the crease with only Mohammad Abbass' persistence presenting him with any significant challenges in an innings so far occupying 181 deliveries, embellished by nine boundaries.

Fresh from a century earlier in the month in the second and final Test against Sri Lanka in Antigua, Hope batted with calm assurance, his knock of 39 not out in partnership with Hodge taking the home side from the unease of 106 for three in mid-afternoon.

Persisent rain allowed for just over an hour's play after West Indies captain Roston Chase won the toss and opted to bat.

In that time Abbass made an early strike when Brandon King dragged a wide delivery onto his stumps.

When play resumed half-an-hour after the scheduled lunch interval, Hodge and the other opener, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, pushed their second-wicket stand to 51 before Aamer Jamal took the edge of Chanderpaul's bat for Salman Agha to take the catch at second slip.

- 'Wanted more wickets' -

Abbass, the senior man in a comparatively inexperienced Pakistan bowling attack, then trapped Amir Jangoo, leg-before the on-field decision of not out being overturned on review to the Decision Review System.

"It was a reasonably good day for us although we would have liked to have taken a couple more wickets," said Abbass in reflecting on the day's effort in which he finished with figures of two for 44 from 19 overs.

"This pitch is a bit slow. It was covered the day before the match so you have to work really hard to get something from it."

He was the only one to trouble Hodge during the final session, earning an LBW verdict against the right-hander from Dominica before it was overturned on review while another leg-before shout two overs later was close, but not close enough for the television technology to prompt a change to the on-field not out decision.

Pakistan's seam bowlers, with the notable exception of Jamal who conceded 54 runs in ten overs, kept the West Indies batsmen in check without appearing to be threatening.

Ali Usman, the debutant left-arm spinner, bowled 12 economical overs without ever appearing to present a significant danger to his opponents.

Both teams were had been forced into unexpected changes ahead of the Test.

In a surprise development, fast bowler Alzarri Joseph declined selection for the home side for personal reasons while Pakistan batsman Abdullah Fazal sustained a back injury ruling him out of this series and the subsequent campaign in England.

F.Qawasmeh--SF-PST